Guest editors’ introduction to the special issue: The contribution of multinational enterprises to the Sustainable Development Goals

In December 2015 the United Nations (UN) General Assembly accepted a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The goals encompass interconnected and actionable targets that address a broad range of development issues and represent the 5 Ps: people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership that were delineated in the 25 September 2015 UN resolution in which the SDGs were adopted. In contrast to the MDGs, the SDGs explicitly call for a wide range of actors, including the private sector, to be involved, and progress on many of the 17 SDGs will strongly depend on private sector contributions. For example, SDG 12, responsible consumption and production, urges MNEs to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle. In addition, Goal 17 emphasizes partnerships for the goals, recognizing the need for cooperation between the private sector, public organizations and civil society for the achievement of all the SDGs.