Understand the 17 Global Goals, map your business to them honestly, and build a measurable, well-governed sustainability strategy.
7 sections · 26 lessons · 5h 5m total length
On 25 September 2015 all member states of the United Nations adopted Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At its centre sit the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), broken down into 169 targets and tracked through a global indicator framework. The deadline for most targets is 2030, which is why you will often hear the phrase "Agenda 2030".
The SDGs replaced the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which ran from 2000 to 2015. The MDGs focused mostly on developing countries and on poverty, health and education. The SDGs differ in three important ways:
It helps to understand the three layers, because mistakes in corporate SDG work usually come from confusing them:
| Layer | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | A broad ambition (17 in total) | SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation |
| Target | A more specific outcome under a goal (169 in total) | Target 6.4: substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors |
| Indicator | A measure used by governments to track a target | A national measure of change in water-use efficiency over time |
Governments are the primary owners of the SDGs. Each country reports progress through Voluntary National Reviews presented at the UN High-level Political Forum. Companies are not formally required to report on the SDGs, but investors, customers, employees and governments increasingly ask how a business contributes, and many national development plans in the region are explicitly aligned to them.
The 2030 Agenda groups its ambitions under five themes, which are a convenient way to explain the goals to a non-specialist audience such as a board:
A sustainability manager at a mid-sized logistics company is asked by the CEO, "Why should we care about the UN goals?" A good answer is short and concrete: "The SDGs are the agenda our government, our largest customers and many investors use to describe what good development looks like until 2030. If we can show, with evidence, how our operations help or harm specific targets — road safety, emissions, decent work for drivers — we speak the same language as the people who give us licences, contracts and capital."
The SDGs are not a reporting standard. They are a shared description of outcomes. Reporting standards such as GRI or ISSB tell you how to disclose; the SDGs help you explain why it matters.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals are the shared agenda that governments, investors and large customers use to describe good development until 2030. This course explains the 17 goals and their targets in plain language and shows how a company can find where it genuinely helps or harms them.
You will follow a practical path: map your value chain with the SDG Compass, test every claim against SDG-washing, set a baseline and targets, build a costed roadmap, design KPIs with reliable data, and put clear governance around the strategy. Worked examples cover manufacturers, banks, food companies and service businesses.
The final module places corporate strategy in its regional context, including Saudi Vision 2030, Egypt Vision 2030 and the UAE Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative, and shows how to align with national priorities without overstating your contribution.
Sustainability, governance and investor-relations faculty at Corprise.ai
Corprise Academy is the teaching team behind Phi and Corprise IR. Our courses are written from real reporting projects in Egypt, the Gulf, North Africa and Europe.
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Corprise Academy
Corprise Academy
Corprise Academy
Corprise Academy
The UN SDGs & Sustainability Strategy
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