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

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  • Thomas A. Tsalis
  • Kyveli E. Malamateniou
  • Dimitrios Koulouriotis
  • Ioannis E. Nikolaou

Abstract

Complying with the requirements of sustainability development is a very high priority for the business community. The United Nations' 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (UN_SDGs) pose new challenges for firms, which have to adjust their operations and strategies to the requirements of SDGs. In this context, this paper aims to develop a methodological framework for evaluating the level of alignment of corporate sustainability reporting practices with the scope of UN_SDGs. Based on disclosure topics from Global Reporting Initiative and a scoring system, an evaluation framework was developed in order to assess the quality of information published in sustainability reports with respect to each UN_SDG. An empirical analysis was performed in a sample of sustainability reports in order to examine the structure and the applicability of the proposed methodological framework. The outcomes of the empirical analysis reflect some implications for future research on the UN_SDG reporting practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas A. Tsalis & Kyveli E. Malamateniou & Dimitrios Koulouriotis & Ioannis E. Nikolaou, 2020. "New challenges for corporate sustainability reporting: United Nations' 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and the sustainable development goals," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1617-1629, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:27:y:2020:i:4:p:1617-1629
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.1910
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