Research Project (Ongoing)

Joint Study with Brookings Institution on "Strictly Business: Hard-headed Approaches to Responsibility and Sustainability"

This joint research project with the Center for Sustainable Development (CSD) at the Brookings Institution will explore what steps could be taken to align private business with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030. The research will provide a collection of policy, financial, technological and business model insights and potential breakthroughs to scale the role and impact of business on societal outcomes as embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals. Private firms play a central role in deploying capital, creating employment, advancing technology, delivering essential products and services, and influencing cultural norms and public policies. Many investors and corporate leaders around the world are increasingly keen to align their business practices with the SDGs. But there is not yet a coherent mapping of how relevant corporate strategies and operations, financial instruments, and ecosystem activities need to move forward in concert. This lack of coherence has resulted in some pushback against “greenwashing” practices. Aligning the business community with the SDGs and any post-2030 goals becomes even more urgent in the context of on-going macroeconomic and supply chain shocks to the global economy.

The research will offer a range of perspectives from both developing and developed countries on, reflecting the fact that hopes for SDG success will fall far short without markedly better mobilization and alignment of private sector capabilities and energies around the world.

The research outcome will be published as a book jointly edited by Homi Kharas, Brookings CSD Senior Fellow; John W McArthur, CSD Director and Senior Fellow; Jane Nelson, CSD Non-resident Senior Fellow and Director of the Corporate Responsibility Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School; and Koji Makino, Visiting Fellow of JICA Ogata Research Institute and Professor of Kyoto University.