As governments, foundations and philanthropy seek to accelerate sustainable development, cooperatives should be “implementation partners,” not just stakeholders, National Co+op Grocer (NCG)’s Director of Strategic Development Michelle Schry said at United Nations headquarters in New York City on Monday.
“The Sustainable Development Goals will not be achieved through policy alone; they’ll be achieved through businesses that people trust, that they own, and that they use every day,” Schry said. “And cooperatives are those businesses.”
Schry’s remarks came during a UN side event called “Cooperatives as Drivers and Partners of Transformative and Localized SDG Action,” leading up to the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development meeting July 7-15 to review the SDGs. Organized by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) in celebration of the International Day of Cooperatives on July 4, the event marked the launch of a series of 17 SDG Policy Briefs developed by the global cooperative movement, showcasing how co-ops have made meaningful contributions across the SDGs.
Co-ops are effective partners in sustainable development because they are accountable to their communities, Schry said. “We’re more likely to ask, ‘Where does this food come from?’ and ‘Does this purchase strengthen our local region?’” In fact, a quarter of food co-op sales come from local products, compared to just 2 percent at the average grocery store. One of NCG’s partnerships with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives connects Black co-op farmers in the southern U.S. with member food co-ops as suppliers. Turning to renewable energy, Schry noted that Briar Patch Food Co-op in California is making strides in reaching its ambitious goals around environmental impact.
Speaking on behalf of NCBA CLUSA in her role as a board member with 25 years of experience in the food co-op sector, Schry bridged the gap between local and national-level impact. Almost half of Americans are members of co-ops, giving the sector the scale and reach needed to advance resilient economic development.
That makes cooperatives across sectors—from credit unions to worker co-ops—uniquely positioned to contribute to the SDGs. As people-centered, democratically governed enterprises owned and controlled by their members, cooperatives provide practical solutions to local and global challenges. By combining economic viability with social impact, cooperatives strengthen communities, create dignified work, reduce inequalities, foster social cohesion, and contribute to sustainable and resilient development.
“If we want the Sustainable Development Goals to move faster, if we want them to have lasting impact,” Schry said, the next step is to “recognize [co-ops] more fully as partners.”
(Note: Schry’s remarks begin about 45 minutes into the recording.)