Designing and implementing sustainability: An integrative framework for implementing the sustainable development goals

Abstract

Covering various sustainable development challenges, such as education, health, climate change and inequality, the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs can help to strengthen current business sustainability strategies with global aspirations. A review of sustainability literature and existing SDG frameworks provides the background to develop an integrative framework of SDG implementation in business strategies and operations as a pathway for sustainable transformation. This article offers a preliminary review of the efforts being made by businesses to address the SDGs. The resulting integrative framework highlights four SDG orientation levels that span seven steps of the SDG integration process, leading to sustainable transformation.