Abstract
This paper is aimed at elucidating the interrelations between reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and integrated thinking. A review of online information on sustainability by port community companies in Antwerp, Belgium was applied. The research made use of a database from Port Plus investigating 769 companies. The data were analyzed using a combination of descriptive and inferential analyses. The research shows that reporting on the SDGs and integrated thinking have reciprocal reinforcing relationships, where the SDGs are a good starting point for planning integrated strategies for sustainability. The article reinforces that using the SDGs in communication and reporting can help companies better and more holistically integrate their efforts for sustainability into their strategies and processes.
Highlights
In past studies, non-financial reporting is being increasingly recognized as an important channel through which firms increase transparency, reputation and legitimacy, enable benchmarking against other companies and motivate employees (Herzig and Schaltegger, 2006; Lozano and Huisingh, 2011)
Because very limited empirical research exists about reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Bebbington and Unerman, 2020), we focus in this paper on the extent of attention by the business sector to sustainability reporting and the SDGs, as well as the interlinkages of reporting on the SDGs and integrated thinking
Most of the companies (62%) have no reporting on sustainability issues on their website or in their annual reports. 53 (7%) companies do not have a sustainability report, nor a website or their website is under construction. 12% have little reporting, 9% have average reporting, 4% high reporting, and 6% very high reporting
Summary
Non-financial reporting is being increasingly recognized as an important channel through which firms increase transparency, reputation and legitimacy, enable benchmarking against other companies and motivate employees (Herzig and Schaltegger, 2006; Lozano and Huisingh, 2011). In response to increasing public awareness and investor demand for nonfinancial information from companies, the development as well as the focus of sustainability related reporting has seen a significant evolution (Fifka, 2013). Relative to the evolution of financial reporting over the last 100 years, sustainability reporting is still in its infancy. Since “Our Common Future,” known as the Brundtland Report, was published on October 1987 by the United Nations (UN), the reporting practice evolved considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information. The work of many involved in sustainable reporting, including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), is based on the definitions and frameworks set out by the Brundtland Commission. Since GRI became recognized as a common language for organizations to report on their sustainability impacts in a consistent and credible way, firms experimented with social, environmental, financial
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