The kids today are experiencing nostalgia for 2016, which might seem bizarre to those of us who were already adults in 2016. The first half of the twenty-teens were, for many people, a more hopeful time. We were getting together outside to play Pokémon Go. Social media was connecting us with friends, not getting us addicted to an endless stream of 30-second videos. Pop culture, between the Avengers movies, Game of Thrones, and Stranger Things, still excited us and had the ability to bring us together. It seemed as though we were making progress as a society, that we were tackling major problems like climate change and were building a better future.

That sense of hope for the future extended to the United Nations. All of its member nations came together that year to adopt The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which provided “a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.” In pursuit of these goals, the UN developed 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Each of the 17 goals incorporates a number of targets used to measure progress toward the goal. They’re a good example of SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable (though rather ambitious), Relevant, and Time-Bound. The SDGs call for action by both governmental and private institutions.

The world has changed a lot since then, and not for the better, as far as the climate is concerned. It is unlikely that any of the UN’s goals will be reached by 2030, which is somehow just three and a half years away. As the climate crisis deepens, it is more important than ever to make whatever contribution you can toward these goals. In 2026, the climate has become a back-burner issue in the face of more visceral and sensational crises, but that only makes it more important for businesses to engage both their employees and their customers to take action. Here’s what you can do.

Familiarize Yourself With the Goals

The SDGs cover a wide range of issues, and while well-defined, the sheer number of them makes understanding what a business is supposed to do confusing and overwhelming. Understanding the goals and how they work together will help you design policies that address these goals holistically.

While we should take the time to understand each goal individually, the goals are designed to build on each other, with progress toward one goal affecting all of the others. The rationale behind this approach is, the UN says, “to push beyond simple ‘box-ticking’ exercises and instead create tangible advancements towards…global sustainability agenda.”

Since the SDGs are most effective if they are taken as a whole and not cherry-picked, the best policy is to support each point broadly. That is, rather than design an individual policy or program around individual goals, take them as a whole. If you create an educational or scholarship fund, you are advancing at least six goals: No Poverty; Good Health and Well-being; Decent Work and Economic Growth; Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Reduced Inequalities; Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions; and Partnerships for the Goals.

Make a Real Commitment

As we said in our article on greenwashing, customers who care will know. They’ll know if you’re just going through the motions or are truly committed to climate or social action. This is why it’s important to put your goals in writing and develop a reporting framework. Even if you’re not reporting to anyone but your employees and your customers, honest reporting concerning your goals and your progress toward them will go a long way to building your reputation for climate action.

Thrive Today and in the Future

Your commitment to these goals should extend beyond the walls of your office or plant to include other businesses and your local or state government. The world has not made the kind of progress toward these goals it needs to make to reduce hunger and poverty or to slow the advance of climate change. It will take a concerted effort to create the kind of world that will keep us all in business for another 50 or 100 years. One business can’t do it all alone, but by bringing employees, consumers, other businesses, and government on board, you can help create the conditions that will allow your business to thrive today and well into the future.