"Business as Part of the Solution": SDG 8 Challenges Popular Views in the Global Sustainability Discourse

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by all UN member states in 2015 with a time horizon of fifteen years to achieve them. The 17 Goals and 169 targets, which form the core of Agenda 2030, aim to effectively address the social, economic and environmental challenges of the 21st century by embarking on a global partnership designed to tackle the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability simultaneously. Unlike prior global initiatives to save the environment (Rio Convention) or to eliminate poverty (Millennium Development Goals), the SDGs are the product of a joint effort that included high- and low-income countries as well as stakeholders from civil society, academia, government and business. The outcome is therefore based on a more inclusive process and, with it, enjoys more global legitimacy (Sachs 2015)