The “SDGs” have the same atmosphere as the Internet 20 years ago.
I started to hear it as a dubious horizontal letter, and before I knew it, everyone was saying it like a spell.
What exactly are the SDGs?
SDG2 years ago I didn’t know how to read s
The SDGs refer to 17 goals aimed at solving environmental problems, gender and educational disparities, and poverty problems by 2030.
There are no penalties for not achieving it. However, countries and companies around the world are moving in a hurry, saying, “If you don’t do anything now, the global environment will be strange.”
Adopted by the United Nations in 2015, it has spread rapidly in Japan in the last 1-2 years. Companies are forced to manage their businesses in consideration of the environment and human rights, and are required to commit to gender equality.
More and more people are wearing colorful badges,At the beginning, it was difficult to understand how to read “SD G’s”.
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“It Revolution” that the Prime Minister could not read 20 years ago
Similar is the Internet around 2000, 20 years ago.
“What is it …”.Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori was said to have been unable to read the word “IT”, which stands for information technology, and the opposition and the media were sarcastic.
Former Prime Minister Mori declared the “IT revolution” as a trump card for the revitalization of the Japanese economy. Bureaucrats demanded IT-related budgets one after another. It’s an era when IT comes with money. Let’s take a quick look at the budget request at that time.
▽ Ministry of Labor IT-compatible vocational ability development 20.5 billion yen
▽ Ministry of International Trade and Industry Promotion of structural reforms to the IT economy 10.1 billion yen
▽ Ministry of Education Development of new generation learning space for IT classes, etc. 15.1 billion yen
▽ Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries / Agriculture, Mountains and Fishing Village IT Promotion Project 16.9 billion yen
(Asahi Shimbun, August 31, 2000, editorial “What is IT?”)
A manager at a central government office recalls: “IT was a magic word. There was also the aspect of saying Aity, Aity without discussing the essentials.”
IT and SDGs are similar. Both …
It’s similar to a great person in a company who is in trouble saying, “Do whatever you want with the SDGs!”
With the development of IT, the Internet became familiar and revolutionized. IPhone released in 2007, Facebook and Twitter appeared, so that you can shop on Amazon. Life, education, work, entertainment. American companies changed everything and Japanese companies were left behind.
Some Japanese companies had executives and general managers such as “IT” and “digital” who were in charge of online strategy, but it was too late to realize that it was a mistake.
Because the Internet was the basis of all work, not someone’s “in charge”.
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SDGs from “cleanliness” to the essence of business
The SDGs are the essence and foundation of business, from “cleanliness”.
Like the Internet, it’s not something you leave to someone else, it’s something everyone has to think of as a “foundation.”
Japan has the fifth highest carbon dioxide emissions in the world. The gender gap index is sluggish at 121st place in the world.
In the 1990s, a boycotts of Japanese products was led to a child working in a poor environment at a related factory of Nike in the United States.
Apple has been criticized for labor issues in Taiwan, which had been asking for product manufacturing. Both companies are now sensitive to human rights and the environment.
If the top is ignorant of gender, sexual minority, and racial issues, it will be revealed on social media and employees will leave.
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SNS users who monitor companies
Who does the company belong to?
In modern society, consumers, business partners, SNS users, NGOs, individual employees, etc. are becoming “everyone’s”.
Investors are not only talking about money, but also scrutinizing whether the companies they invest in are tackling environmental and gender issues.
The term “due diligence”, which examines the management and financial details of a company, is also used in a new sense of “human rights due diligence,” and human rights issues in the company’s supply chain are also checked.
The rules have changed. Like the way business is done online has changed dramatically.
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Before starting “SDGs”. 3 points
I believe that the SDGs are more dynamic and bring about more essential changes to the world than the Internet.
Greta Thunberg, not Steve Jobs, shouts at us. “Change the system”.
And it’s not the iPhone product that changes the system, but our “mindset.” There are three points to it.
(1) Doubt capitalism
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American Democratic supporters favor socialism as well as capitalismThere is also a tendency.In some respects, young people who do not own a car and are accustomed to the culture of “share” may not be in line with traditional capitalism that surrounds wealth.
I don’t want to say the extreme “let’s stop capitalism from today”.
However, companies living in the world that experienced the Lehman shock in 2008 and the American and Japanese business circles also talked about the revision of “shareholder first principle” must think about everything on a zero basis. Marx is also drawing attention. The important thing is to imagine the “outside” of capitalism.
(2) Put the next generation first
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It is the current teens and 20s who are more affected by the climate crisis than the executives who are near retirement age and middle-aged and older people. Babies and children.
The painful days continue with the new Corona. Thinking about the next generation may be “idealism that can afford”.
However, it is not fair if the next generation is the one who eats the “misselection” of the active generation.
People over the age of 18 can vote in elections, but issues such as the SDGs should take in more opinions from the next generation. Politics, businesses, media.
(3) Action rather than “complete package” principle
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“There are many things that are inadequate, so I would like to start working on the SDGs after preparing and perfecting the company …” Or, many companies may hesitate to say, “It’s awkward to declare to the world.” It is a “complete package principle”.
However, the SDGs have 17 goals, and none of them are working perfectly.
Even if we think that we are still using PET bottles in-house, we may be able to work on other items of the SDGs. The range in which actions can be taken by management and employees is different.
“SDGs wash” and “green wash” that only say clean things but do not involve the actual situation, and “deception” that imposes a burden on developing countries and vulnerable people should be severely criticized.However, first of all, it starts to move openly, including its own issues.
Being aware of the word “sickness” of the word SDGs, we act while hesitating.
There should be ridicule, but there should be support.
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The SDGs want us to use our more essential imagination while drawing the same growth curve as the Internet.
The internet may not have been such a revolution.It only preserved old capitalism.
There was more to do to create a decent society for a sustainable planet. And now we have noticed.
(Sentence: Ryuichiro Takeshita / Editor-in-Chief of HuffPost Japan)
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HuffPost is a new project“Redesigning the world with SDGs”started.
Poverty, environmental issues, gender inequality … Various social issues are intricately intertwined with each other. Even if you want a solution with the power of business, if you try something, it may cause another problem in the short term. “If you stand there, you won’t stand here.” To learn about these “dilemmas” and move society forward. Think about what companies and what we can do and what we should do.
■ The theme of the online distribution program “Huff Live” is “SDGs” every month. Facts and opinions related to SDGs will be developed at the entrance of seasonal events such as Valentine’s Day, job hunting, and typhoons.
■ In “Huff Live”, as part of the SDGs No. 5 “Let’s Achieve Gender Equality”, we will work on the “50:50 Project” aiming to equalize the gender ratio of performers.
■ I don’t know what to know even if I want to learn. I don’t know which one to buy to buy a book. We have created a commentary article that answers such concerns, “Understanding the SDG from scratch.”
■ For busy business people to catch the daily news in the “SDGs context”. A new Twitter account that introduces news articles from HuffPost and other media with short comments.Useful SDGs News for WorkI made. Please follow us.
■ About SDGs Please send us your voices such as “I want to know this” and “I want you to cover this”. We welcome your opinions and requests to [email protected].
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