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In 2012, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were born at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro. The objective was to produce a set of universal goals that met the urgent environmental, political and economic challenges facing our world.

The SDGs are unique in that they cover issues that affect everyone. They reaffirm an international commitment to end poverty, permanently, everywhere. They are ambitious in making sure no one is left behind. More importantly, they involve us all to build a more sustainable, safer, more prosperous planet for all humanity.

In 2015, in a commitment letter to the U.N., thirty-two businesses from around the world pledged to work for the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a global development agenda adopted by 193 UN member states, guided by the SDGs.

Known as Agenda 2030, the document embodies a transformative vision for the planet’s future, targeting poverty and hunger eradication, health and education improvement, urban sustainability, climate change combat, and the protection of oceans and forests.

This was the first time businesses were “explicitly committing themselves to achieving the 2030 Agenda,” said Haitian Lu, Chief of the Office of the Under Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs.