The Challenge of Sustainable Development Goal Reporting: The First Evidence from Italian Listed Companies

Maria Federica Izzo,Mirella Ciaburri,Riccardo Tiscini

doi:10.3390/su12083494

Abstract

This research investigates the extent to which the voluntary disclosure of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), assumed to be the most recent innovation in social disclosures and corporate sustainability reporting, is diffused among Italian listed companies through different instruments of disclosure (voluntary or non-voluntary). Our findings reveal that SDGs awareness amongst the business community is high and that the majority of highly-traded, liquid, and highly-capitalized Italian companies have introduced SDGs in their disclosure and story-telling practices, while the exact nature and requirements of the SDGs, and the definitions of specific key performance indicators (KPIs) related to those goals, are still missing. Italian companies prefer using non-financial statements and sustainability reports to disclose information about their commitments to SDGs, and most of them started to report information about SDGs in 2016. Additionally, this research seeks to identify the significant differences between SDG reporters in different sectors, under the assumption that operating in a specific sector could significantly affect a company’s decision to disclose information on their SDGs. This research highlights, following the recent evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosure and sustainability reporting, the increasing relevance of SDGs in Italian companies’ disclosure practices and, at the same time, the gaps to be covered for their effective implementation.

Highlights

Sustainable development was defined in 1987 by the United Nation Brundtland Report as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [1]
We considered the three main documents composing the reporting package: (i) the Annual Report (AR), which is a mandatory instrument used to communicate the results of the economic activity of a company to different categories of stakeholders [80]; (ii) the Sustainability Report (SR), which is a document that discloses information about the firm’s economic performance and social, environmental, and ethical matters [78], and (iii) the Integrated Report (IR), which offers “concise communication about how an organization’s strategy, governance, performance and prospects, in the context of its external environment, lead to the creation of value over the short, medium and long term” [81]
We searched these documents to locate any references to SDGs, company goals, or key performance indicators (KPIs) related to SDGs, or to any other information provided by the companies relevant to the sustainable development goals

Summary

Introduction

Sustainable development was defined in 1987 by the United Nation Brundtland Report as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [1] Starting from this point, the debate about sustainable development and corporate behavior has flourished, calling for new approaches to performance, sustainable business models, and integrated approaches to reporting systems [2,3,4,5]. According to the 2030 Agenda, responsible corporate behavior encourages the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals promoted by the United Nations (UN), which outline the global goals and aspirations for 2030 Along this line, the SDGs—first introduced during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012—rely on the critical role of business organizations in delivering on the promise of sustainable and inclusive development [6,7,8]. The role of businesses in this process, is pivotal and can provide both the key to success and the reason for the failure of this challenge [9,10,11]

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