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The Involvement of Real Estate Companies in Sustainable Development—An Analysis from the SDGs Reporting Perspective

Author

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  • Elena Ionașcu

    (Doctoral School of Economics and Business Administration, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, 14 Lapusneanu Street, Building R, 700057 Iași, Romania)

  • Marilena Mironiuc

    (Accounting, Business Information Systems and Statistics Department, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, 22 Carol I Boulevard, Building B, 700505 Iași, Romania)

  • Ion Anghel

    (Department of Financial and Economic Analysis, Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 6 Piata Romana Street, 010374 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Maria Carmen Huian

    (Accounting, Business Information Systems and Statistics Department, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, 22 Carol I Boulevard, Building B, 700505 Iași, Romania)

Abstract

As transparency has become the new paradigm of economic activities, we set out to analyse the extent to which the EU real estate companies legitimise their role in society through the sustainable development goals (SDGs) while meeting stakeholders’ information needs. Applying the content analysis, the sustainability reports and the annual reports of the entities from the real estate sector, from 2016 to 2018, were studied in order to highlight the priority SDGs of the field and the extent to which they are integrated in their business models. In addition, we evaluated, based on a quality score, the depth with which the entities report their sustainability commitments. The results of the study show that although more and more real estate entities are expressing their interest for sustainable development, there is still a large gap between the assumed intentions and the real actions undertaken by the companies. Most of them do not have the strategy, culture and tools needed to turn sustainability commitments into concrete actions. According to the average quality score (2.99 out of 5), the entities present their sustainability aspirations mostly qualitatively and report few quantitative key performance indicators (KPIs) to reveal the degree of achievement of the priority SDGs, such as: SDG 11—Sustainable cities and communities, SDG 13—Climate action and SDG 8—Decent work and economic growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Elena Ionașcu & Marilena Mironiuc & Ion Anghel & Maria Carmen Huian, 2020. "The Involvement of Real Estate Companies in Sustainable Development—An Analysis from the SDGs Reporting Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-24, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:798-:d:311655
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    2. Herenia Gutiérrez-Ponce & Sigit Arie Wibowo, 2023. "Sustainability Reports and Disclosure of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Evidence from Indonesian Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Isik Akin & Meryem Akin, 2025. "Promoting sustainable practices through green investments in the United Kingdom real estate industry," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 1526-1544, February.
    4. Francesca Manes‐Rossi & Giuseppe Nicolo', 2022. "Exploring sustainable development goals reporting practices: From symbolic to substantive approaches—Evidence from the energy sector," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1799-1815, September.
    5. Ionaşcu Elena & Anghel Ion, 2020. "Improvement of the real estate transparency through digitalisation," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 371-384, July.
    6. Herenia Gutiérrez‐Ponce, 2023. "Sustainability as a strategy base in Spanish firms: Sustainability reports and performance on the sustainable development goals," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 3008-3023, August.
    7. Oluyomi A. Osobajo & Adekunle Oke & Ama Lawani & Temitope S. Omotayo & Nkeiruka Ndubuka-McCallum & Lovelin Obi, 2022. "Providing a Roadmap for Future Research Agenda: A Bibliometric Literature Review of Sustainability Performance Reporting (SPR)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-20, July.
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    9. Teresa Vallet‐Bellmunt & Iluminada Fuertes‐Fuertes & María Luisa Flor, 2023. "Reporting Sustainable Development Goal 12 in the Spanish food retail industry. An analysis based on Global Reporting Initiative performance indicators," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 695-707, March.
    10. Roxana Manuela Dicu & Ioan-Bogdan Robu & George-Marian Aevoae & Daniela-Neonila Mardiros, 2020. "Rethinking the Role of M&As in Promoting Sustainable Development: Empirical Evidence Regarding the Relation Between the Audit Opinion and the Sustainable Performance of the Romanian Target Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-17, October.
    11. Elena Nechita & Cristina Lidia Manea & Elena-Mirela Nichita & Alina-Mihaela Irimescu & Diana Manea, 2020. "Is Financial Information Influencing the Reporting on SDGs? Empirical Evidence from Central and Eastern European Chemical Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-34, November.
    12. Luis Fonseca & Filipe Carvalho & Gilberto Santos, 2023. "Strategic CSR: Framework for Sustainability through Management Systems Standards—Implementing and Disclosing Sustainable Development Goals and Results," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-24, August.
    13. María Garrido-Ruso & Beatriz Aibar-Guzmán & Albertina Paula Monteiro, 2022. "Businesses’ Role in the Fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda: A Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-35, July.
    14. Tariq Elrazaz & Ahmed Shaker Samaan & Moataz Elmassri, 2024. "Sustainable development goals: Sustainability reporting challenges in the United Arab Emirates context," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(4), pages 3100-3114, August.

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