Aligned With UN Sustainable Development Goals

In our recent blog James&Co Is A Certified B Corp: Have Confidence That Sustainability Is At Our Core we reported research that half of the consumers in the USA and Great Britain want a sustainable fashion industry. However, almost as many consumers do not know which fashion brands and retailers are committed to sustainability.

This research at the fashion industry level is totally in step with the call-out by the United Nations in 2015 for all countries to work together to change the world socially and environmentally for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.

The call-out was in the form of an agenda of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The goals all countries, organisations and individuals should work together to deliver.

In summary, those SDGs are: Help End Poverty; Eat Better; Stay Well; Learn & Teach; Treat Everyone Equally; Save Water; Use Clean Energy; Do Good Work; Make Smart Choices; Be Fair; Love Where You Live; Responsible Consumption & Production; Act On Climate; Clean Our Seas; Love Nature; Make Peace; Come Together.

James&Co is aligned with SDG12: Responsible Production and Consumption. Read the UN's targets for this SDG here.

The Good Life Goals: Blueprint To Implement The Big Picture SDGsFollowing on from the UN release of the 17 SDGs, there was a collaborative effort of a number of parties to develop a blue-print for implementing 17 SDGs. The outcome of that collaboration set out The Good Life Goals. The Good Life Goals are a set of personal actions - 5 for each of the SDGs - that people around the world can take to help support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Each SDG has an emoji and the Good Life Goals are articulated in respect of each.

A component piece of developing the Good Life Goals was a research study which concluded that:

• 96% of people feel their own personal actions, such as donating, recycling or buying ethically, can make a difference to helping make the world a better place
• 88% of consumers expect brands to help them make a difference

How does James&Co align with the SDGs and Good Life Goals?

Read this blog for more about that. All comments welcome.

UN Ten Principles Of The UN Global Compact

The UN Global Compact asks companies to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labor standards, the environment, and anti-corruption:

a. Human Rights Principle

Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and

Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.

b. Labor Principle

Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;

Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labor;

Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labor; and

Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

c. Environment

Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;

Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and

Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.

d. Anti-Corruption

Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.