Launch of SDG Accelerator - the Sustainable Development Goals will open up new business opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises in Denmark and contribute to a more sustainable world

Time and place: January 19, 2018 at 3.15pm-5.35pm in UN City Copenhagen, Marmorvej 51, Copenhagen

UNDP and The Danish Industry Foundation invite to the launch the new SDG Accelerator project. The project offers the participating companies a unique opportunity for developing new sustainable products, services and business models with a significant business potential and impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as strengthening internal awareness on the SDGs and support employee engagement. 

The Sustainable Development Goals were adopted in New York in 2015 by all 193 member states. The objective was to produce a set of universal goals that meet the urgent environmental, political and economic challenges facing our world. It is estimated that it will require investments of up to 5-7 trillion USD annually by 2030 to reach the SDGs. Investments of this magnitude will be equal to many new business opportunities for innovative and visionary companies that can translate the 17 SDGs into new collaborations in new markets. In this way, companies can help achieve the goals.

“Businesses are vital players in all of the 17 SDGs. Economic growth, trade, entrepreneurship, innovation and the creation of decent jobs are tasks that are largely based on the private sector’s efforts. It must therefore be widely recognized that the SDGs cannot be achieved by political means alone, the private sector needs to play an important role too. Danish companies are far ahead in, for example, cleantech and urban development, and this position can be utilized even better”, says Mads Lebech, CEO of The Danish Industry Foundation, which, together with UNDP, is behind the new project SDG Accelerator.

The project aims to accelerate business solutions for the SDGs, as well as activating and contributing to increased employee engagement.

"Companies can win new markets if they invest in sustainability, and it is positive that sustainability can be used as a competitive parameter. Businesses can deliver solutions that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable, and with SDG Accelerator, we want to help companies connect business strategies to the global challenges addressed in the Sustainable Development Goals "says Camilla Brückner, Director of UNDP's Nordic Representation Office.

SDG Accelerator is run by UNDP's Nordic Representation Office. The programme is funded by The Danish Industry Foundation. The project is being implemented in cooperation with Monitor Deloitte, The Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) and several other actors. The programme is tested in Denmark in 2018 and 2019 with 30 Danish small and medium-sized industrial companies and then the aim is to roll out across the Nordics and globally.

The partners of the project invite to the launch of SGD Accelerator in UN City with the participation of Mads Lebech, CEO of The Danish Industry Foundation, Martin Søegaard, Partner, Deloitte Consulting, Jimmy Maymann, Chair, UN Live Online, Brian Mikkelsen, The Danish Minister of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs, and Camilla Brückner, Director, UNDP’s Nordic Representation Office.

During the event, the private sector’s ability develop concrete and innovative business models addressing the SDGs will be debated. There will also be a panel discussion about the challenges and potentials that companies experience when working with the SDGs.

For registration and further information:

Valdemar Røjle Christensen, UNDP, telephone: 26 28 81 51 or mail: valdemar.christensen@undp.org

Ole Østrup, Industriens Fond, telephone: 23 80 06 60 or mail: oos@industriensfond.dk