Planet

“We are determined to protect the planet from degradation, including through sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of the present and future generations.” (United Nations A/RES/70/1, 2015, p. 3)

It is obvious from the news that we see from the various media, that the planet is facing a critical situation. The Planet as one of the 5 P’s of the Sustainable Development Goals encompasses goals no 6, 12, 13,14 and 15 present the challenges that our planet is facing around the world. No goal is more important than the other and they all complement each other.

SDG no 6 is about clean water and sanitation. The official wording is that we have to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. The critical reflection for SDG 6 shows how businesses are combatting the problem of water and sanitation through their business model. The other P’s for Planet is coming from SDG no 12. The mission statement is to ensure the sustainable consumption and production patterns. From the critical reflections we can see how companies have transformed the way they are doing theiir production system to be more responsible and efficient, and also how they produce innovative products which is environmentally friendly and solve the sustainable consumption issue.

The next part of the Planet is SDG 13. The Climate Change. The mission statement is to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts by regulating emissions and promoting developments in renewable energy. Nearly every day we are seeing just how connected – and fundamental – climate change is to global development. This will deliberately change the way the world economy does business. This can be shown through the critical reflection for SDG 13. The stories of winners and finalist of businesses supporting SDG no 13 will show the creative approach to combat climate change.

The other two parts of the Planet are the SDG 14 and SDG 15. Both are promoting life below water and life on land. For the SDG 14 the official wording is to “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”. The Goal has ten targets to be achieved by 2030. It encompasses reducing marine pollution, restoring ecosystem, reducing ocean acidification, supporting sustainable fishing, conserving coastal and marine areas, support small scale fishers, and enforce sea law. The critical reflections by the students are showing how businesses are implementing the SDG 14s target in their business model, thus doing business while solving the life below water problem.

The last part of the P’s of Planet is SDG 15. It has a mission statement of protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. The nine “outcome targets” including: Conserve and restore terrestrial and freshwater ecosystem, to end deforestation, desertification, protect biodiversity, eliminate trafficking of protected species, the other three targets are the means of achieving targets which include to increase financial resources to conserve and sustainably use ecosystem and biodiversity, financing sustainable forest management and combatting poaching and trafficking.

All the Planet SDGs require massive actions. These would require a change in the way the world economy does business. The AIM2Flourish is a great platform to show how businesses are going through this transformation process. Now businesses work through solving the problem of the planets. They contain concrete plans on how to change the world, doing business by solving the real problem of the planets. We are determined to protect the planet from degradation, including through all the sustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources and taking urgent action on climate change. This is critical to make sure that we can support the needs of the present and future generations. From the following critical reflections by the students, it can be seen that the Planet SDGs are very important, and it has been agreed upon within the international community. The company showcased in this critical reflection are showing that the global community can deeply appreciate the critical importance of saving our planet and how our future depended on transforming our approaches to responding to the climate crisis.

Dr. Ir. Amelia Naim Indrajaya

Head of the Center for Sustainability Mindset and Social Responsibility, IPMI International Business School (IBS), Jakarta, Indonesia

Reference

United Nations A/RES/70/1. (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development.  Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org