Leading the Way on Sustainable Development

An Exclusive Interview with the UN’s Chantal Line Carpentier

In BriefIn the past decade, sustainability has moved from the periphery to become central in the global efforts to promote economic development, foster trade, and lift people of all nations out of poverty. The UN has blazed a trail, as its Millennium Development Goals have given way to its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), a broad set of development goals and targets to be achieved by the whole world by 2030. Various United Nations agencies, funds, and programs are contributing to the set of indicators to measure progress against these targets. The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has been crucial in crafting a core set of indicators to be used by business entities to measure and report progress towards the SDGs. The International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR), for which UNCTAD is the Secretariat, provide governments with practical guidance on how to assess the business sector’s implementation progress.Chantal Line Carpentier is the Chief of the New York Office of UNCTAD. In this exclusive interview with the editors of The CPA Journal, Carpentier explains the role of UNCTAD and ISAR and their contributions to the SDGs, and offers her perspective on the importance of global collaboration on sustainable development. Her comments are presented in an abridged and edited form below, as well as part of our Voices of the Profession video series on http://www.cpaj.com. They represent her personal views and not necessarily those of UNCTAD or the UN.