In the list of the most important manifestations of global trends, one cannot but see the UN activity in spreading the Sustainable Development Goals. This publication will discuss, firstly, the theoretical aspects that justify it and secondly - the difficulties and successes of the Russian business in its implementation. In relation to the theoretical part general methodological issues of organizing its monitoring of the SDGs at enterprises are analized. Here the choice of direction (and indicators) by enterprises are described, the structure of goals selected in different countries (SDG industry metrix) is depickted, methods for evaluating the effectiveness of measures are shown. As for russian problems, the publication describes the general directions of state and supranational business promotion, as well as identifies some of the most successful business incentive practices. There are also named companies country leaders. Using the data of a sociological study conducted by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs business associations the specific features of the implementation of tasks in the country‘s business are given. As a result of the publication, authors give the general assessment of Russian business as corresponding to the initial stage.