In this article, co-authored by the KPMG Ireland team (Russell Smythe and Caroline Pope) and the KPMG team in South Africa (Neil Morris; Paresh Lalla and Gunarani Ganasagaran), we share how a country’s performance against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) impacts their ability to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. We also look at the potential impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the progress of various stakeholders in achieving the SDGs across European and African countries.
Over the centuries, the progress of humankind has been made possible due to our ability to discover, innovate and/or invent revolutionary technologies and solutions. To navigate successfully out of the COVID-19 crisis will certainly require innovation and revolutionary technologies, as well as solutions to cater for even basic needs such as availability of food, water, health & well-being and safety.
The announcement by the United Nations of the SDGs in 2015 was a wake-up call for world leaders to embark on a journey – metaphorically, on an enormous hope-laden ship for a sustainable future. As they navigate through this journey, each country’s progression towards a common goal is guided by a list of targets and measured against specific indicators. These targets are often viewed as key guiding principles for formulating and making important business decisions, to ensure that all stakeholders’ needs from the economic, environmental and social perspectives are taken into consideration.
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