Reprioritising Sustainable Development Goals in the Post-COVID-19 Global Context: Will a Mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility Regime Help?

Rajiv Nair,P.K Viswanathan,Bettina Lynda Bastian

doi:10.3390/admsci11040150

Rajiv Nair, P.K Viswanathan + Show 1 more

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The impact of COVID-19 on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) continues to be researched. Initial signals warn of significant setbacks in achieving SDG targets by 2030. The achievement of SDGs could abet improved protection from future pandemics. This article suggests reprioritizing SDGs to facilitate a more robust global response to future pandemics. Specifically, we recommend that SDGs 3, 6, 5 and 4 (in that order) are prioritized in order to optimize efforts at a more inclusive and resilient socio-economic recovery post-pandemic. This paper suggests that mandatory CSR regimes enable governments, in combination with corporate fiscal resources, to influence the selection and progress of these SDGs. The case of India’s mandatory CSR regime is employed to illustrate our position. This study extends the debate on SDGs by raising the possibility of universal concentration on a few critical SDGs.

Highlights

The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were framed and adopted in 2015 by member states of the United Nations (UN)
They report that SDG 3 (79%) was amongst the most addressed SDGs by Indian corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects related to COVID-19 (IICA 2020)
We have explored whether the CSR expenditure of the Indian companies under the mandatory CSR regime has any linkages with the SDGs, those dealing with improving the status of development sectors, such as education, healthcare, water and sanitation (Appendix B)

Summary

Introduction

The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were framed and adopted in 2015 by member states of the United Nations (UN). Following the Indian government’s decision to treat anti-COVID-19 measures of firms as CSR (Singh 2020), approximately USD 15452 million was allocated to such projects (CRISIL 2020) Against this backdrop of searching for alternate models of financing and fast tracking the achievement of the SDGs, the present paper makes a case for devising long-term strategies and action plans for linking the SDGs with CSR regimes in the post-pandemic global context, with an emphasis on reprioritizing SDGs 1–6 (People). We present a case analysis of the mandatory CSR regime being implemented in India since 2013 and its linkages with the SDGs. In Section 3, we present a case for devising long-term strategies and action plans for linking the SDGs with CSR regimes in the post-pandemic global context, with an emphasis on reprioritizing SDGs 1–6.

CSR–SDG Linkages

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Linking CSR with SDGs