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On October 3rd, the launch of the 2nd Report of the Observatory of SDGs in Portuguese companies took place at the Lisbon Academy of Sciences.

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The event gathered CEOs and sustainability directors from large, medium, and small enterprises, as well as representatives from the public sector and other public and private entities to share key findings about the evolution of the 2030 Agenda in the Portuguese business sector.

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During the welcome, Filipe Santos, Dean of CATÓLICA-LISBON, emphasized the importance of the university's mission to increasingly engage with companies and provide strong support in promoting knowledge and implementing the sustainability agenda. He also highlighted the central role of the Observatory in fulfilling this mission, connecting large companies, SMEs, civil society, and decision-making bodies to foster Sustainable Development.

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Following this, Dr. Bernardo Ivo Cruz, Secretary of State for Internationalization, reinforced the importance of the Observatory as a crucial element in approaching companies and producing valuable content to support strategic decision-making in the country.

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Throughout the event, the Observatory team presented the most relevant points of each chapter of the Report, providing participants with an overview and main insights from the Report. You can access the chapters of this Report on the project's website. The Observatory is a collaborative project that exists only in collaboration with the companies that are part of it. Its objectives can only be achieved through joint work between the companies and the project's research team. Thus, the mission of this Observatory is to serve the companies and support them on their sustainability journey, with the dissemination of best practices being a central element in this process. To further strengthen this relationship, this year, four companies from the Observatory were invited to actively participate in the event: two large companies (Caixa Geral de Depósitos and CTT – Correios de Portugal) and two SMEs (Miranda Bike Parts and Introsys). These companies presented a best practice in implementing the SDGs in the business core, selected by the Observatory during the preparation of the Annual Report 2023.

In response to the needs of the companies involved in this project, the Observatory team is pleased to share a major new development: the launch of the training "SDGs in Practice: An Implementation Plan for Your Company," a two-day program designed to help companies create a concrete and personalized action plan to implement the SDGs in their business strategy, aligned with the latest ESG trends.

In all its endeavours, the Observatory aims to create a community of companies and researchers to promote Sustainable Development and foster knowledge on these topics. We thank everyone who has been with us throughout this year and also on October 3rd, which marks the start of a new cycle for the project!

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We take this opportunity to share the video summary of the event and invite you to visit our website where you will find photographs and the presentation supporting the event.

Pre-Event Communication The Observatory of SDGs in Portuguese companies was recently recognized by the United Nations (UN) as one of the 25 BEST PRACTICES globally developed by Academic Institutions, being the only Portuguese project distinguished among just six Europeans. This recognition demonstrates the importance of this joint project, which aims to inspire Portuguese companies increasingly to adopt the 2030 Agenda. Learn more here.

On the upcoming October 3rd, the event ODS in Focus: Insights on Portuguese companies will take place. The event will be held at the Lisbon Academy of Sciences from 5 PM to 8 PM and will be an excellent opportunity to firsthand experience the main results and news from the Year 2 Report of the Observatory.

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Some details about the event: The opening will be performed by the Secretary of State for Internationalization, Dr. Bernardo Ivo Cruz, who will share his vision on "The demands of sustainability and how they will affect companies, mainly multinationals". The state of the art of SDGs globally and in Portugal will be presented. The Observatory team will also focus on a topic that integrates one of the chapters of the report, which will be "ESG and SDGs, what are they really?" Two large companies and the two SMEs will present their good practices in terms of sustainability and SDGs. They are Caixa Geral de Depósitos, CTT – Correios de Portugal, Miranda & Irmão, and Introsys. The main conclusions, results, data, and news from the Year 2 Report of the Observatory will be presented. There will also be a talk on "The Positive Impact Mindset – Considering Sustainability as a business opportunity rather than a business risk?" by Prof. Dr. Katrin Muff, Director of the Institute for Business Sustainability, and Professor at Luiss Business School.

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This public event will be supported by our funders and Advisory Board: BPI Fundação “la Caixa”, Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, CMVM, Euronext, IAPMEI, UNGlobalCompact Network Portugal, BCSD Portugal, GRACE, and IESBA.

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On the 10th of October, the first report of the Observatory on Sustainable Development Goals on Portuguese companies was launched at the Pestana Palace Lisbon.  

 

It was a remarkable moment of starting a more operational phase of this project, which leaves us with a great desire to continue to chart, together, a more sustainable path for Portuguese companies and society.  

 

We share here some relevant videos of the intervention of the Minister of Economy and Sea - Dr. António Costa Silva, part of Prof. Rebeca Henderson, and some of the photographs of the various moments of the event.