GRI chairman Eric Hespenheide has called for greater cooperation between businesses and governments to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Following the GRI Board of Directors holding their bi-annual meeting in India, GRI today (3 April) partnered with the Bombay Stock Exchange to hold a special dialogue event in Mumbai entitled ‘Business Innovation and Leadership for Sustainable Development Goals’.

Mr Hespenheide gave the opening address to an audience of around 100 people – including senior individuals from private companies, government, professional organizations, academia and civil society –  followed by speeches from:

• Gyaneshwar Kumar Singh, joint secretary, India’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs
• Mr. R. Ramanan, director of Atal Innovation Mission, Government of India
• Nayan Mehta, chief financial officer, Bombay Stock Exchange
• GRI chief executive Tim Mohin

Mr Hespenheide said:

“More and more governments are realizing the value of corporate social responsibility and sustainability reporting. Indeed, we welcome India’s landmark CSR regulation, which commits 2% of net profit to be spent on CSR.

We now need business and governments around the world to work together to adopt sustainable practices and integrate sustainability disclosures, as supported by the GRI Standards, into their core ways of working.

By mandating disclosure of high quality environmental, social and governance information, India can lead the way, along with other growing economies, in harnessing the power of  the private sector to drive sustainable development.”