The Role of the TNC in Fulfilling the UN's Sustainable Development Goalsby William Kratzer and Junior TonettProf. Dr. Johannes Stephan - International Business Management WS16/177 December 2016The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were introduced by the United Nations to establish goals in 17 areas that would need to be met to achieve worldwide sustainable development. In order to achieve these goals, many actors have been called upon to participate and play a role. Furthermore, the UN has identified the funding needs of the worldwide community in order to achieve these goals. Of the various institutions that could provide funding, Transnational Corporations (TNCs) currently provide the most funding in the form of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects. The role of TNCs in achieving the SDGs is mainly to continue and increase these FDI projects. These FDI projects should be focus into non-sensitive sectors, allowing institutional funding to flow to more sensitive sectors like health and education.Additionally, TNCs should develop internal mechanisms to internalize the benefits of the achieving the SDGs and the costs of ignoring the SDGs. As the SDGs are achieved at a long time horizon, TNCs should shift investment assessment and managerial compensation to a similar long view. Despite being a necessary part of achieving the SDGs, TNCs are by no means the other actor contributing. In fact, much of their behavior and desired actions are, and will continue to be, determined by other forces. These are mainly come from governments and other institutions in the form of regulations and incentives aimed at the TNC and their investment dollars.What are the Sustainable Development Goals?Every fifteen years, the UN invites its member for a huge discussion of how the world should be and how to reach particular standards of development. This process began in 2001 when they agreed to the Millennium Development goals.These eight main goals included aims like ending extreme poverty and stopping the spread HIV/AIDS. The deadline for those goals were 2015. At this time, the members again started discussing of the future world and how they wanted to leave it for future generations. In September 2015, all 193 countries agreed to adopting a plan for a better future. This new agreement has 17 goals, ranges over more areas of impact. It is also much more specific. As before, the main and most important issues were economics, social, environmental and governance challenges. Major concerns include food security, human health, education and a special focus on climate change mitigation.This agreement is meant to serve as a roadmap for governments and other stakeholders, guiding them on investments issues and on implementing public policy. It is important to note that the SDGs are not international law, but rather a guide for policymakers to handle their national development in a sustainable manner. To achieve those 17 goals by 2030, governments need some special support, primarily in the form of funding and knowledge, and facilitated through information sharing between stakeholders. Importantly, a major funding gap has been identified. Based on UNCTAD studies, there will annual investment need of approximately $4 trillion (USD). Currently, there is investment