Amidst a complex year that brought historic surprises and challenges, it also was a year of deeply positive developments that are a cause for optimism.

One of these is the way business embraced the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adopted at the United Nations in 2015 by 193 countries, these 17 global goals aim to end poverty, reduce inequality, and tackle climate change by 2030. They are arguably the most ambitious call to action the world has seen, for more just societies, more equitable economic growth, and a sustainable planet.  And the private sector – as a key stakeholder and agent for change – is one of the groups that the UN has called on to act, along with government leaders, civil society, and ordinary citizens.

Businesses have listened. In 2016, companies from nearly all major industry sectors announced commitments to help meet the goals. Executives referenced the goals on conference stages and in media as they spoke about how they will do business in the future. And many more corporate responsibility and policy executives have privately shared that they are currently mapping their businesses to the goals.

Cascading Commitments

Here are a few examples that demonstrate the different ways companies are stepping up to meet the goals: Merck & Co. Inc., has just issued an in-depth mapping of its entire company’s operations and commitments to not only health, but to all 17 Sustainable Development Goals as well as several other leading standards and principles measures.   Global leaders such as MasterCard, and regional pioneers such as Safaricom and Ooredoo, based in Kenya and Qatar respectively, have committed their core technologies and products to address inclusion mandates set out by the goals that they can uniquely impact with their products, services, and partnerships. J&J used the Global Goals platform as an anchor for their sweeping new health commitment, made during UN General Assembly week this year. And in the realm of broad commitments to sustainability, Unilever, whose CEO is one of the most visionary champions of sustainable development, updated its Sustainable Living Plan pledge to grow the company while at the same time reducing its environmental impact by half. The health technology firm Philips upped its commitment this year by pledging to tie 95% of its revenue to Goal 3 ‘Better Health’ and Goal 12 ‘Responsible Consumption and Production’.   The CEO of Novozymes, one of the most significant companies you may have never heard of, declared essentially that the entire company’s targets are now oriented to support sustainability. What’s more, his and his executive team’s pay is tied to the achievement of the goals to which they’ve committed.

These are not token pledges or ‘business as usual’; they are substantive commitments to join in the responsibility for achieving the goals. They are strategically focused on areas tied to their businesses where they can reduce their footprint and leverage their expertise, innovation, and assets to solve problems.

Creative Collective Action

It has also been a year of inspiring collective action by the private sector. Coalitions of business leaders such as the Business and Sustainable Development Commission are working with world-class economists to add serious analytical rigor and a credible voice to the business case of the goals with the aim of engaging the business community writ large. National coalitions of business, civil society, and government have formed in the Netherlands and in Denmark, and in September of this year, 30 CEOs in Australia signed a pledge to support the goals. New industry initiatives that will launch in early 2017 will also be models to watch.

Public Declarations

Companies are probably the best champions of the goals with their peers – and their communication about the goals matters. SCA, the Swedish global hygiene and forest products company, anchored their Hygiene Matters Report in the SDGs, and specifically Goal 6 ‘Clean Water and Sanitation’ and in their partnership with the UN. Several companies we know of are mapping their forthcoming 2016 corporate responsibility reports in the goals. Perhaps the most creative? Pfizer publically announced their commitment to the global goals on more than 280 feet of wall space on the exterior of their Manhattan headquarters, a block from the UN.

Engaging Companies

We have many groups to thank for this momentum – and I will briefly list some of them here as they’re also good places to turn for guidance. First, the UN Global Compact, which now has over 9,100 corporate signatories to their 10 principles in 168 countries, has been convening companies and contributing tools and resources to support corporate engagement. Other business organizations such as the B-Team, Business Fights Poverty, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), and the UN Foundation’s Business Council for the UN have been doing the same. These organizations along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Corporate Citizenship Center, the Clinton Global Initiative and high-level global gatherings such as the World Economic Forum at Davos have been putting the executives who have embraced the goals on the stages of their annual conferences to inspire and challenge others to join. The major global consulting firms have all produced methodologies to help companies map to the goals, and are advising clients on how to support them. Communications firms have partnered with the UN Foundation and others to leverage their reach and network of clients.   The UN Foundation and campaigns such as Global Citizen and Project Everyone have been working with celebrities, journalists, and thought leaders to engage citizens in action for the goals. New online resources such as Global Daily share news of impact and action related to the UN and the goals.

Looking Ahead

It’s an encouraging start, but we are not even close to having truly broad engagement.   For the goals to be attained, we need widespread mobilization – across industries, geographies, and value chains.

Building awareness is still a priority. Surveys put awareness of and intention to act on the goals in the business community at well over 75%, but these are of members of sustainability-oriented business organizations. So we’ve done a good job with our inner circles. A survey of all companies at this point would no doubt yield much lower results. With only 14 years to achieve the goals, we need more companies, from small businesses to multinational corporations, to be inspired, to step up. This includes partnering with governments to help achieve national plans of action.

While there is much more work ahead, the fast dash out of the starting gate by many of the world’s leading companies has been heartening. It’s a signal for a new era of leadership, partnership, innovation, and action.

This is a race to the top if there ever was one.