After the success of two CSR special issues that have been immensely appreciated as collector’s editions - ‘The Art of Giving’ (2018) and ‘CSR and more’ (2019), I am delighted to present this third special issue on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). A pioneering publication on this theme, this issue captures the ideas and endeavours of India Inc. in aligning their priorities and projects with any and many of the 17 UNSDGs. In the last decade, the understanding of corporate responsibility the world over has transitioned from philanthropy to multi-stakeholder value creation. The year 2021 also marked the beginning of the ‘Decade of Action’ towards UNSDGs. While nations look at them as an opportunity to align local programmes with global imperatives, corporations espouse them as part of their larger responsibility and sustainability mandate. This special issue is celebrating CSR initiatives and inclusive business strategies of Indian corporations and social enterprises, for playing a transformative role in their sectors and industries. The issue covers all 17 UNSDGs that cover four broad areas: Social Goals: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 Economic Goals: 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 Environmental Goals: 12, 13, 14 and 15 Governance Goals: 16 and 17 The progress on the achievement of Social Goals has been studied from the lens of non-profit CSR activities as per the Indian Companies Act 2013. The progress on the Economic and Environmental Goals has been captured through product, service, and process innovations that create value for several stakeholders while also providing financial benefits to the company. Governance Goals have been conveyed through collaboration of companies with like-minded institutions to mutually enable achievement of SDGs. To provide a comprehensive overview as well as a deep dive, each of the 17 SDGs has been divided into three sections. The first is a snapshot about the SDG that provides a quick overview to the major targets, grassroots challenges, government interventions, and CSR contributions. The second section presents the views of global scholars, subject experts, policy makers, and corporate leaders on the specific SDG. Each of them has underscored the primacies and shared innovative ways in which the SDG targets could be achieved by 2030. The final section under each SDG features select firms and their initiatives in that SDG along with broad objectives, implementation model, funding and challenges, innovations, outputs, outcomes, impact, and plans for scaling up. To ensure a fair representation we embarked on a six-month-long primary data collection endeavour that covered over 750 leading companies pan-India. Of these, around 75 companies have been showcased in this issue along with 50+ thought leaders. While scores of companies are doing noteworthy work in several SDGs, we have limited our focus on those that participated in our primary data collection exercise. Moreover, 150+ companies and their pioneering work in many areas has already been featured in earlier CSR special issues. Hence, many popular projects may not have found a mention in this issue. An attempt has been made to balance well-known players with lesser-known entities, while also balancing geographies, and demographics. The undercurrent throughout the issue has been to explore ways in which the good work could be scaled up and even replicated to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth across sectors.
