The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed at a United Nations General Assembly in 2015
embrace an ambitious and wide ranging set of global environmental, social and economic issues
designed to effect a transition to a more sustainable future. The United Nations called on all
governments to pursue these ambitious goals but also acknowledged the important role of the
business community in addressing the SDG’s. This paper offers a preliminary review of the efforts
being made to encourage businesses, and more specifically the consumer goods industry, to address
the SDGs and offers some wider reflections on the challenges business face in engaging with the SDGs
