GRI, the UN Global Compact, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), have developed the idea of an SDG Compass following extensive consultations with companies, government agencies, universities and NGOs. They say that the Compass explains how the SDGs will affect business, and offers tools and knowledge to put sustainability at the heart of company strategy. The guide presents five steps for companies to "maximize their contribution to the Goals". It can be downloaded here.
There has already been some discussion on the EAUC mailbase as to whether the idea of the Compass might be just as applicable to universities as to business, and this raises the question of whether this might be possible, more generally across formal education in schools and colleges. It's likely, however, that the idea will be of most interest to universities, given how little attention is paid to sustainability (or the goals) by schools and college management.
The compass metaphor is instructive as such instruments are usually used by people who know where they want to go, and that might not be the case here – well, not universally so.
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