New challenges for corporate sustainability reporting: United Nations' 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and the sustainable development goals

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 1617-1629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Tsalis ◽  
Kyveli E. Malamateniou ◽  
Dimitrios Koulouriotis ◽  
Ioannis E. Nikolaou
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7738
Author(s):  
Nicolás Gambetta ◽  
Fernando Azcárate-Llanes ◽  
Laura Sierra-García ◽  
María Antonia García-Benau

This study analyses the impact of Spanish financial institutions’ risk profile on their contribution to the 2030 Agenda. Financial institutions play a significant role in ensuring financial inclusion and sustainable economic growth and usually incorporate environmental and social considerations into their risk management systems. The results show that financial institutions with less capital risk, with lower management efficiency and with higher market risk usually make higher contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to their sustainability reports. The novel aspect of the present study is that it identifies the risk profile of financial institutions that incorporate sustainability into their business operations and measure the impact generated in the environment and in society. The study findings have important implications for shareholders, investors and analysts, according to the view that sustainability reporting is a vehicle that financial institutions use to express their commitment to the 2030 Agenda and to higher quality corporate reporting.


Author(s):  
Sofia Martinoli

In 2015, the United Nations (UN) launched the "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development", adopted by all the 193 UN member states. The Agenda exhorts countries to start working towards achieving the so-called "Sustainable Development Goals" (SDGs). The 17 Goals of the Agenda represent a to-do list for people and the planet, aiming at improving people's life conditions and protecting the environment. The COVID-19 crisis has threatened the achievement of the SDGs in several ways. People's life has been dramatically affected and there is an urgent need for an effective global recovery plan. The crisis should be transformed from a curse to an opportunity; innovation, today more than ever, should be pointed towards building up a sustainable future. To incentivize the spread of innovative and sustainable ideas, it should be clearly outlined their impact. In this work, it is analysed the availability of frameworks and tools to translate the "macro" – the SDGs – into the "micro" – organizational and entrepreneurial strategies. There are different valuable tools provided by many recognized organizations, which aim at supporting companies and organizations in measuring, managing, and reporting their impact over the achievement of the SDGs. With this huge number of available tools, it is difficult to decide in which one to invest time and resources. The contribution of organizations over the SDGs is often not clear.


Author(s):  
Marianne Beisheim ◽  
Nils Simon

Abstract In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations assigned an important role to multistakeholder partnerships for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. Since partnerships show a mixed success record, this article analyzes whether relevant actors in the UN context are inclined to translate lessons learned and the increased knowledge about partnerships’ conditions for success into an improved “UN metagovernance.” Criticizing the current institutional setup, most of the interviewed actors proposed that partnerships should be metagoverned by the UN through systemwide principles, rules, and procedures. There is, however, little consensus as to how that should be done. Drawing on assumptions from the literature and extensive empirical research, the article identifies patterns in actors’ perspectives on the issue.


2017 ◽  
pp. 274-288
Author(s):  
Bhavesh Bharad

Sustainable development as defined by the Brundtland Commission 30 years ago is “development which meets the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.1 Human rights are those basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are born with. When the basic needs and fundamental rights of individuals are not met, the ability to participate in social, economic, and environmental systems that promote sustainability is compromised. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was adopted at United Nations General Assembly through: "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." 2 The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges faced like, those related to poverty, hunger, inequality, discrimination, climate action, quality education, health, clean water and sanitation, peace and justice etc. All these hallenges are containing the human rights. The doctrine of these human rights without implementation of 17 Goals and 169 targets of the SDGs will not achieve their goal to ‘leave no one behind’. These means the SDGs require all goals to be reached, for everyone – especially those who are far away from this. Although, that the term human right is not mentioned anywhere in all the 17 SDGs. So, my present paper focuses on a study how the contributions of sustainable development are integrated to human rights. Societal factors which influence human rights. Societal factors which influence human rights and global sustainability are often found deeply rooted and when these services not provided, it may pose a risk to citizens and their human rights, creating a conflict and instability, preventing them from participating fully in society, feeding an unjust cycle. Further paper also highlights how on other side people with full access to natural 1 United Nations, Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future, A/42/427, August 4, 1987. 2 A/RES/70/1 - Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 21 Oct 2015 resources, a clean environment, employment, education, and social services, are able to live peacefully and securing their lives ultimately contributing to sustainable communities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Dickens ◽  
Vladimir Smakhtin ◽  
Matthew McCartney ◽  
Gordon O’Brien ◽  
Lula Dahir

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are high on the agenda for most countries of the world. In its publication of the SDGs, the UN has provided the goals and target descriptions that, if implemented at a country level, would lead towards a sustainable future. The IAEG (InterAgency Expert Group of the SDGs) was tasked with disseminating indicators and methods to countries that can be used to gather data describing the global progress towards sustainability. However, 2030 Agenda leaves it to countries to adopt the targets with each government setting its own national targets guided by the global level of ambition but taking into account national circumstances. At present, guidance on how to go about this is scant but it is clear that the responsibility is with countries to implement and that it is actions at a country level that will determine the success of the SDGs. Reporting on SDGs by country takes on two forms: i) global reporting using prescribed indicator methods and data; ii) National Voluntary Reviews where a country reports on its own progress in more detail but is also able to present data that are more appropriate for the country. For the latter, countries need to be able to adapt the global indicators to fit national priorities and context, thus the global description of an indicator could be reduced to describe only what is relevant to the country. Countries may also, for the National Voluntary Review, use indicators that are unique to the country but nevertheless contribute to measurement of progress towards the global SDG target. Importantly, for those indicators that relate to the security of natural resources security (e.g., water) indicators, there are no prescribed numerical targets/standards or benchmarks. Rather countries will need to set their own benchmarks or standards against which performance can be evaluated. This paper presents a procedure that would enable a country to describe national targets with associated benchmarks that are appropriate for the country. The procedure builds on precedent set in other countries but in particular on a procedure developed for the setting of Resource Quality Objectives in South Africa. The procedure focusses on those SDG targets that are natural resource-security focused, for example, extent of water-related ecosystems (6.6), desertification (15.3) and so forth, because the selection of indicator methods and benchmarks is based on the location of natural resources, their use and present state and how they fit into national strategies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6382
Author(s):  
Harald Heinrichs ◽  
Norman Laws

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), was agreed upon by 193 member states of the United Nations in September 2015 [...]


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
José Miguel Rodríguez-Antón

No one has the slightest doubt about the enormous potential that the African continent has as a tourist destination. The diversity of cultures, the great biodiversity that it possesses, the multiple artistic manifestations that it offers and the beauty of the seas that surround it are key pieces in continuing to promote its capacity as a tourist attraction, which is approximately 60 million tourists per year who generate seven percent of exports and employment. However, in order for Africa to take off, it is necessary that a number of conditions related to security, health, education, eradication of poverty, reduction of inequalities, peace and justice and quality of its waters, among others, are intimately related to the Sustainable Development Goals defined in the 2030 Agenda. In this context, we maintain that the implementation of the Circular Economy in Africa will be a key tool in this process of improving the sustainability of this continent in its three aspects, economic, social and environmental, and raising its level of tourism competitiveness.


2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 1309-1336
Author(s):  
Vlad Turcea

The present paper aims to highlight the discrepancies between two countries of the European Union, Romania and Denmark, in the perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals. As Denmark is seen as a primer European and Global nation in achieving the United Nations' targets, Romania can use this example as a guideline on how to act and to obtain the most notable results. The article proposes some key principles that Romanians could follow in order to successfully fulfill the 2030 Action Plan having, as an example, the strategies and indicators reached by Denmark. The current work paper is structured as a review of the two reports that voluntarily summarize the situation of the Sustainable Development Goals in each state, followed by a statistical analysis of investment behavior and concluded with an analysis of the most notable differences between the states based on the dataset published by Eurostat.


Author(s):  
Núria Garro ◽  
Jose Moros-Gregorio ◽  
Alejandro Quílez-Asensio ◽  
Daniel Jiménez-Romero ◽  
Ana Blas-Medina ◽  
...  

We present the activities of the Innocampus Explora innovation project developed on the Burjassot-Paterna campus of the Universitat de València and whose main objective is to show the interrelation between the different scientific and technical degrees on campus. In this year, the work team made up of students and professors from all the faculties and schools of the Burjassot-Paterna campus, have carried out activities around environmental issues. A cross-sectional and interdisciplinary vision of the problems of the uses of plastic and nuclear energy that link with several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) dictated by the United Nations. With the development of this project we contribute to quality transversal training for all participating students.


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