From the 15th to the 24th of September 2023, Liverpool is taking part in Global Goals Week 2023 to support the halfway point in the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. Back in 2015 the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were created and adopted by all United Nations Member States. The 2030 Agenda for Sustanable Development is effectively a plan of action for people, planet, and prosperity through the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals focusing on the core tenets of People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership.

Here at Matchstick Creative, we fully support the SDGs and have chosen to use the goals as a reference point to align our social and environmental purpose and activity.

“Unless we act now, the 2030 Agenda will become an epitaph for a world that might have been.”

António Guterres
Secretary-General, United Nations

Firestarters as a catalyst for change

We founded Firestarters in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in response to the clearly visible inequalities in how people across our communities and the wider world were being treated. We wanted to create a community for change and a vehicle for how we could all work together. 

If you know anything about our journey, we have strived for tangible ways to make progress and place purpose at the heart of our business and the organisations we work with. The 17 SDGs have given us a framework to make sure that we’re steering in the right direction and that we can align our activity with other purpose-driven organisations, local authorities, national organisations, NGOs, and global corporations.

Collaboration over competition

We have found that it can be very difficult for SMEs and microbusinesses to have any real stake in a global conversation – we’re often at the mercy of decisions made by bigger organisations and structures outside of our world of influence. 

Part of our approach with Firestarters is to look at how we can get a diverse range of stakeholders in a room to discuss challenging topics so that we facilitate more equitable conversations and enact change. 

Here we lean on the ‘quadruple helix’ model for engagement and innovation – looking at how government bodies, academia, private industry, and our communities can work together to create real and sustainable action. 

As such, we have decided to make a public commitment with our Firestarters programme to focus on three of the SDGs where we feel we can have the greatest impact:

• Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
• Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
• Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

So, through to 2025 our Firestarters programme will work on:

• Partnerships for the goals
• Decent work and economic growth
• Reduced inequalities

Within this context we also expect to support conversations around:

• Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
• Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
• Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

The first of our Firestarters events under this commitment is a virtual session as part of our Global Goals Week activity and is aimed at how we can work together to understand our role in the SDGs and how even SMEs and microbusinesses can create a positive impact, regionally, nationally and globally.

Firestarters presents…Global Goals Week – September 2023

How to work together across sectors to put the sustainable development goals into action.

Thursday, 21st September 2023

2pm–4pm BST (GMT+1)

Alongside this, Matchstick Creative, as an organisation has committed to the following goals throughout 2023–2024:

1. Re-evaluate our carbon offsetting policy
2. Develop a clear strategy to reduce our carbon footprint effectively
3. Identify a cornerstone charity to support
4. Dedicate time to volunteering during work
5. Advocate for better environmental/social measures in our local business environment
6. Provide team carbon literacy training and Environmental copywriting masterclasses
7. Develop a sustainable, environmental team rewards system

Please see our Impact Report for the lowdown on B Corp journey and our plans for the future.

Further reading

• Liverpool Global Goals Week events
  https://mailchi.mp/the2030hub/are-you-ready-for-global-goals-week-liverpool-13787096?e=30600e73d0
• UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals
  https://sdgs.un.org/goals
• Global Goals Week
  https://globalgoalsweek.org/