An Innovative Approach to the Implementation of Sustainable Business Ideology in Ukraine

Abstract

According to the Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2015), making sustainable business decisions should be the driving force in achieving environmentally-oriented improvements. The key document that supports the 10 principles that ensure SDGs is the United Nations Global Compact Strategy 2021–2023 (UN, 2021). Achieving the goals of the Strategy requires the use of an improved business decision-making model that simultaneously increases revenues and revises the distribution of domestic funds for meeting the principles in the sphere of human rights, economic growth, satisfactory working conditions and the environment, and combating corruption as a key driver of corporate sustainability and responsible business practices. The authors have developed a methodological approach to the assessment of business sustainability, which is based on a combination of elements: analysis of world best practices and trends, determination of the impact of business on the social status and environment, quality assessment of relevant certification, and analysis of compliance with social indexes of sustainable development. The analysis of economic indicators of sustainable business (The B Impact Assessment, 2021) for 2020–2021 allowed singling out companies that finance the environmental sphere. Today, a quarter of the world’s countries carry on sustainable business and finance the environmental degradation impact. The 8 leaders include: France, USA, Brazil, India, Germany, Norway, Ireland and South Korea. Methods of rating and expert assessment constitute an applied aspect of research for identification of prospects of sustainable business formation in Ukraine in the regional context. The result shows that only 8 regions are suitable for sustainable business conduct, while the environmental criterion is more than 9.2 points of 10, the economic criterion does not exceed 5, and the social criterion is 4.02–5.02. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the organization of sustainable business according to the key strategic state priorities in formation of the mechanisms for the investment and the innovation policy of a sustainable development support system through the use of regulatory tools for reformation of existing business approaches to internationally regulated ones, such as business for nature.