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SDG Ambition is an initiative to challenge thousands of companies to raise their level of ambition to meet the needs of society and planet by fully integrating sustainability into business strategy and operations.

Programme Overview

The need for SDG Ambition today is clear. The world is not delivering progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the pace and scale needed. While it is still possible to shift the world towards a 1.5°C trajectory and achieve the SDGs by 2030, it will take urgent, scalable and multi-stakeholder action to dramatically accelerate progress.

As we approach the 2030 Agenda deadline, companies are under increasing pressure from stakeholders to set and achieve ambitious corporate goals that tackle complex sustainability challenges, build business resilience, and enable long-term growth. 

SDG Ambition is a three month accelerator programme that supports participating companies of the UN Global Compact in setting ambitious corporate targets and accelerating the integration of the SDGs into core business management - helping you meet growing stakeholder demands and investor expectations. 

Led by the UN Global Compact in partnership with SAP and Accenture, SDG Ambition will empower and equip participating companies of the UN Global Compact to develop and implement innovative business strategies that significantly increase their positive impact on the SDGs. Through the Global Compact Local Networks in 60+ countries, participating companies will assess current performance, identify risk areas, discover new opportunities across business units and functions and take ambitious business action towards achieving the SDGs by 2030.

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Programme Benefits

You will learn how to:

You will gain:

Strategically prioritize actions that will accelerate your company's contribution to the 2030 Agenda

Set targets aligned with absolute benchmarks that today may seem aspirational but are critical to spearhead the transformation of economies and societies

Approach sustainability management and design new systems integrating the SDGs

Build a business case and generate sustainability buy-in from your company

A clear understanding of baseline impacts across the business in creating a comprehensive sustainability strategy.

The ability to achieve ambitious goals aimed at galvanizing business action with what is actually required to achieve the SDGs.

An overview of how to integrate and mainstream ambitious sustainability goals across business units by pioneering a performance integration approach that utilizes enabling technologies

The foundational tools and understanding to build a business case

Insight into industries with an outsized impact on the SDGs

Expected Outcomes

SDG Ambition will challenge and support companies to:

  • Understand baseline impacts across the business and benchmark with other companies across industries;
  • Undertake strategic prioritization based on an inclusive understanding of their positive and negative impacts across the value chain and operations;
  • Set ambitious goals inspired by the SDGs and Ten Principles that align with and enhance core business strategy;
  • Integrate and mainstream ambitious sustainability goals across business and with external partners utilizing a balanced scorecard inclusive of the SDGs and the Ten Principles;
  • Demonstrate how technologies can provide transparency, measurement, and enable innovation with purpose;
  • Commit and track progress over time with the Communication On Progress.

At the conclusion of the SDG Ambition Accelerator, participants will have: 

  •  one or more revised or new goals aligned with an SDG Ambition Benchmark on a priority topic 
  •  a Mapped Integration Journey that outlines how they will achieve it, and  
  • a clear plan of action to implement the SDG Ambition Approach going forward within 6 months of completing the accelerator. 

Programme structure

Module 1
Module 2 
Module 3
Participants align on their vision, prioritize an SDG Ambition Benchmark and set ambitious goals.  Participants ideate and build out pathways, evaluate the consequences and develop a business case for an SDG Ambition Benchmark.   Participants identify success metrics, key technologies, and capabilities to help implement their goals, craft their pitch and define next steps.  

The Programme will be delivered through a mixture of online and in-person workshops facilitated by Impact International.

Registration opens :    21st September
Registration Closes:   4th December
Accelerator runs:        January - March 2024 (dates tbc)

Interested in participating?

Recruitment for the 2023 SDG Ambition Accelerator is now open.

Contact Erin Sharpe, Project Manager, Governance and SDGs, for further details.

Eligibility requirements:
  • A business Participant or Signatory of the UN Global Compact
  • Currently engaged with the UN Global Compact Network UK or willing to join
  • Committed to strengthening corporate target setting and action to increase progress on the SDGs
  • Willing to appoint two representatives to participate in programme activities and events and an executive-level “Ambassador” to follow programme developments, provide support and participate in high-level events.
Cost of joining: £750+VAT

Download the SDG Ambition resources below:

Ambition Guide: Setting Goals for the Decade of Action establishes the initial set of SDG Ambition benchmarks that challenge organizations to set more ambitious goals and targets in the areas in which business is positioned to have a substantial impact. Business leaders can use this document to support their strategy and set goals ambitious enough to deliver the SDGs by 2030.

Integration Guide: Designing Business Systems for the SDGs presents the approach through which the 10 SDG Ambition benchmarks can be integrated into core business processes and systems to enable effective measurement and management of sustainability performance. Business leaders can use this publication to identify the system opportunities to integrate the SDGs into core business processes.

SDG Ambition Benchmark Reference Sheets provide illustrative details regarding the steps to integrate each of these benchmarks into a company’s business systems, as well as the key design decision required to engage technology.

Questions? Please see our FAQs or contact Erin Sharpe, Project Manager, Global Goals, for further details.

We are delighted to have worked with the following UN Global Compact Network UK members for our 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 SDG Ambition programme:

SDG Ambition past participants
SDG Ambition Accelerator 2022 past participants