Social Equity, Sustainable Business Talks Now Available to View

Social equity is an aspect of sustainability that can be overshadowed by an emphasis on environmental issues, yet it’s among the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that target global challenges affecting people and the planet—including poverty, inequality, and peace and justice issues—with an aim “to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.”

Recently, Pitt’s Global Studies Center (GSC) Director Michael Goodhart moderated a panel discussion co-hosted by the GSC and Pitt’s Center for Sustainable Business (CSB) that explored the role of business in driving social change in accordance with the U.N. SDGs framework.

The March 3 event drew an audience of more than 150 students, faculty, staff and community members to the University Club to hear panelists CB Bhattacharya, H.J. Zoffer Chair in Sustainability and Ethics in the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and director of the Pitt CSB; Pitt Director of Sustainability Aurora Sharrard; City of Pittsburgh Chief Resilience Officer and Sustainability Manager Grant Ervin; and University of Connecticut Professor of Political Science and Human Rights Shareen Hertel.

View their discussion, “Corporate Purpose, (Social) Equity, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” online.

Hertel, the Global Studies Center Heinz Foundation visiting fellow, also delivered the inaugural Pitt CSB lecture. View her talk, “New Views on Stakeholder Engagement: Insights from ‘Tethered Fates,’” on My Pitt Video.