At the outset of 2018, EFG Hermes took the momentous step of becoming the first Egyptian financial services corporation to become a signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). While this has consolidated our position of leadership on sustainability in the region, it has also brought home the challenges we as a society face in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The private sector today faces unprecedented and complex risks and opportunities. Social and income inequality and environmental damage are already having negative effects on business and investment, particularly in conflict zones and high-risk areas of the world. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a common language for partners and a unified sense of purpose across all dimensions of sustainable development, whether at the level of government, civil society or business. Not only do they offer an inspiring and inclusive vision of the future, they also provide us with a framework—in the form of specific targets for each SDG ¹ —that allows us to make the global goals local. By relating the relevant goals and targets to our business activities, we can identify the areas where we can have the most impact, both on the investment level and in our philanthropic undertakings.

• 

  Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

• 

  Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

• 

  Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages

• 

  Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

• 

  Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

• 

  Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

• 

  Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

• 

  Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

• 

  Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

• 

  Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries

• 

  Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

• 

  Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

• 

  Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts*

• 

  Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

• 

  Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and half biodiversity loss

• 

  Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions for all

• 

  Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

• 

¹For a complete rundown of the SDGs and their targets, please refer to Annex 1.