Roadmap of the UN Global Compact CFO coalition

The CFO Coalition for the UN SDGs

The UN Global Compact CFO coalition, of which we are a member, is an initiative that seeks to promote sustainable corporate finance to drive the transition to sustainability.

It aims to bring together CFOs from thousands of companies in the Global Compact, spanning all industries and regions of the world, to direct corporate investments towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and create a mainstream market for SDG financing.

The Coalition’s objectives are:
▪ Foster a global community of CFOs committed to the SDGs.

▪ Leverage CFO commitments to direct trillions of corporate investments towards the SDGs and create a mainstream market for SDG financing.

Call for action on investment and financing

The Position paper just published highlights the importance of CFOs’ involvement in this action, as they play a key role in financial decision-making and can drive sustainable investment.

The main objective is to provide recommendations and guidance on how companies can contribute to sustainable finance and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The document seeks to challenge companies to raise their ambitions and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in key areas such as decent work, climate action, gender equality, water and finance.

In the area of finance, the Global Compact calls on all companies to align their investments and corporate finance with the SDGs by 2030.

This involves committing to two specific goals:

▪ Increase corporate finance for technologies, sectors and geographies that are critical to the SDGs.
▪ Commit to creating a broad and credible market for SDG-related investments and capital flows.

Roadmap for business investment and financing for sustainable development

The Global Compact has developed a roadmap for corporate SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) investment and financing.

This roadmap outlines key principles and strategies for companies to integrate sustainable development into their investment and financing activities.

It aims to accelerate SDG-aligned corporate investment and financing and create a mainstream financial market for SDG investments. 

Here are some components of the roadmap: 

1. CFO principles for integrated corporate investment and financing in the SDGs: The roadmap emphasises the role of chief financial officers (CFOs) in driving sustainable investment and financing. It provides principles that CFOs can follow to align their financial strategies with the SDGs and integrate sustainability considerations into decision-making processes.
2. Leveraging capital markets: The roadmap highlights the importance of leveraging capital markets to attract investment for SDG-related projects. It explores ways to bring discipline to impact investment and attract broad capital markets to support SDG investments.
3. Promote sustainable foreign direct investment (FDI): The roadmap recognises the importance of FDI in driving sustainable development. It suggests strategies to promote sustainable FDI, such as aligning investments with host countries’ sustainable development plans and considering the long-term development of local markets.
4. Blended finance: The roadmap introduces the concept of blended finance, which combines public and private sector resources to support SDG investments. It explores ways to introduce blended corporate finance to mobilise additional capital for sustainable projects.
5. Enhancing the credibility of SDG ambitions and targets: The roadmap underlines the importance of credibility in corporate SDG ambitions and targets. It provides guidance on how companies can enhance their credibility through transparent reporting, robust measurement and verification of their sustainability efforts.

Principles of CFOs

Focusing on the role of CFOs and corporate finance departments, the CFO Principles guide companies in setting goals, strategies and investments to realise the SDGs through board oversight, internal and external audits, public reporting and other governance procedures.

The principles are articulated around four leadership practices:

▪ Thesis and measurement of SDG impact.

▪ Integrated SDG strategy and investments

▪ Integrated SDG corporate finance

▪ Integrated SDG reporting and communication

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