While the current Covid-19 pandemic increases awareness about the critical importance of sustainability issues, Anadolu Group and Business for Goals Platform initiated a joint action that will serve as a guide for Turkish business world in reporting their contribution to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). This cooperation resulted in preparation of a set consisting of three important tools that will be guiding and useful for all enterprises that have integrated SDGs into their business processes and want to measure their performance in this journey.

Anadolu Group and Business for Goals Platform initiated a joint action that will serve as a guide for Turkish business world to align their sustainability studies with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and report their related performance. This cooperation resulted in preparation of a set that will be guiding and useful for all enterprises that have integrated SDGs into their business processes and want to measure their performance in this journey. The three-document-set consisting of the first Turkish editions of “The Sustainable Development Goals Compass” and “Business Reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals” along with “Anadolu Group Sustainable Development Goals Alignment Report Reporting and Communication Strategy Guide” is released on the corporate websites of Anadolu Group and Business for Goals Platform.

We must take action today to be part of the future economy

Ümit Boyner, President of the Business for Goals Platform, which aims to build a bridge between the business world and SDGs and strengthen the role of the business world in sustainable development, said that “The current pandemic reminded us once more about the importance of sustainability. In order to reach Sustainable Development Goals, we need to move away from our usual business approach and come up with more inclusive and innovative solutions. For sustainability, responsible production is as important as responsible consumption. Therefore, companies should both make responsible production and report these efforts within the framework of international standards and make them visible. We can only be part of the future economy in this way and we must act today in order not to fall behind. It should be noted that enterprises that have inclusively and responsibly integrated

SDGs into their business manners gain more competitive advantage and become more financially sustainable compared to those which have not. Therefore, as the Business for Goals Platform, we encourage companies to set their SDG priorities and to experience SDG reporting by all companies, whether large or small.”

We aim to set an example for organizations of all scales in the reporting process

Pointing out that the awareness about the critical importance of sustainability issues increased during the pandemic period, Hurşit Zorlu, Anadolu Group CEO stated that “We are going through a period in which companies that have made progress in the sustainability issues will greatly reap the benefit of that, and companies that fell behind, will feel this deficiency further. Last year, under the brand of Anadolu’dan Yarınlara (From Anadolu to the Future), which represents the future-oriented vision of our Group, we published our Anadolu Group Sustainable Development Goals Alignment Report that demonstrates the points where our sustainability inquiries and practices during the period of 2015 to 2018 contributed to the 17 goals set by the United Nations, as well as our contribution to achievement of global objectives. Now, within the scope of our cooperation with Business for Goals Platform, we prepared the Anadolu Group Sustainable Development Goals Alignment Report Reporting and Communication Strategy Guide in order to share the steps we followed and the methodology we established for the preparation of the aforementioned report with the business world. Besides, we introduce two highly important guiding documents for SDGs into the Turkish literature. With these guiding documents, we aim to set an example for organizations of all scales that want to participate in the reporting process that will contribute to realization of SDGs and to analyze their respective performance and share solutions with the whole world.

Private sector plays a critical role in determining whether SDGs could be achieved

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Turkey Resident Representative Claudio Tomasi stated that the private sector will play a critical role in determining whether SDGs could be realized over the next decade or not and said: “In 2020, the United Nations launched the countdown to 2030 and announced the Decade of Action. While realization of SDGs requires active participation of all segments of the society, the private sector is among the leading stakeholders in this process. Companies should move to inclusive and sustainable business strategies in line with Agenda 2030. Changing production and consumption patterns in this direction is key to achieve the globally agreed SDGs. UNDP is redoubling its cooperation with public and private sector to produce this positive change. This is a great example that sets good standards and I invite all businesses to practice SDG reporting”.

Information and experience the enterprises need are offered together

From the three documents created by the cooperation, “The Sustainable Development Goals Compass”, the original of which was prepared by The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), UN Global Compact (UNGC) and The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), guides enterprises on how to align their strategies with SDGs and how to measure and manage their contributions to the achievement of SDGs. “Business Reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals” prepared by GRI and UNGC outlines the “principles-based prioritization” process aimed at helping the enterprises identify and prioritize SDGs, take action and report progress for the SDGs they prioritized. These two theoretical documents are put into practice via “Anadolu Group Sustainable Development Goals Alignment Report Reporting and Communication Strategy Guide”. With this set, the lessons learned as a result of the knowledge and experience they need in a similar reporting process are given to companies one-to-one.

About Anadolu Group

Anadolu Group has been founded by Yazıcı and Özilhan families in 1950. Carrying its existence into the future with its vision of being “the star that links Anatolia to the world and the world to Anatolia”, the Group operates in 19 countries with approximately 80 companies, 66 production facilities and approximately 80 thousand employees. Acting in accordance with its mission to cooperate with the world’s leading global brands through its commitment to partnership culture and to develop branded consumer products, it continues its healthy and fast growth by creating added value for Turkey in line with its target of globalization as a regional player abroad. It maintains its activities in a wide area with operations in industries of beer, soft drink, retail, agriculture, automotive, stationery, quick service restaurant, real estate and energy. With an understanding of social responsibility, the Group contributes to the society in areas of education, health and sports by Anadolu Foundation, Anadolu Medical Center and Anadolu Efes Sports Club.

About Business for Goals Platform

Acting on the philosophy that all actors in the society have a role to play for sustainable development, founded jointly by TURKONFED, TUSIAD and UNDP, the Business for Goals Platform is the world’s first-ever Think-Do-Tank platform launched by private sector initiative. Centred on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations on issues ranging from poverty to climate change, from gender equality to environment, the Platform aims to muster the private sector, public sector and NGOs on the common denominator of “sustainable development” and formulate roadmaps guiding the private sector to becoming a solution partner for development.

About UN Global Compact and Global Compact Turkey

UN Global Compact, the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative, supports companies to align their strategies and operations with the 10 universally accepted Principles, and leads the business world to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Global Compact Turkey, which is among the pioneering Local Networks from 70+ Local Networks of UN Global Compact, aims to promote the concept of “responsible corporate citizenship and sustainable companies" in Turkey taking advantage of the power of collective action.