Goal 13: Climate Action – The Case of Netflix

The current (2024) number of people living on Earth is 8.11 billion. In the next 25 years (i.e. by 2050), there will be 10 billion people living on the planet (UN, 2024). Yet humanity has a limited number of resources such as food and water at its disposal. These resources are becoming increasingly scarce, not least due to climate change, which is why humanity needs a change in direction towards sustainability. Sustainability in this context means “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (UN, 2022). In 2015, the UN came together with governments, businesses, social organisations, knowledge institutes and other stakeholders to develop the 17 SDGs intended to create a more socially responsible and sustainable future. The governments of the signatory countries must try to achieve these goals, and the private sector—and all the companies active in it—must also make efforts towards realising the SDGs. After all, people in the private sector generate about 75% of the world’s GDP (Guterres, 2019). As such, private companies can significantly contribute to the achievement of the SDG targets. Multinational companies play a particularly important part due to their resources, capabilities and networks, and they have played an active role in the implementation of the SDGs (Tulder et al., 2021). Chen (2022) defined a multinational company as an internally operating company that generates at least a quarter of its revenue outside its home market. Because multinational companies are active in several countries, the implementation of the SDGs in their business models is of great importance. These companies also have the necessary management capabilities (Tulder et al., 2021).