From promise to reality: Does business really care about the SDGs?

Who’s behind it? – PwC

How can it help? – With its latest SDG Reporting Challenge, PWC seeks to answer how many organization globally are embracing the SDGs and how many understand that the SDGs need to be part of overall business strategy rather than simply a sustainability issue?This year’s research expands on previous work to understand the SDG priorities of individual companies and analyze the quality of SDG reporting. The SDG Reporting Challenge has evolved to look at the largest listed companies from each participating country and territory and understand the trends in SDG reporting for the most influential companies in the world, including tracking performance on key indicators to allow benchmarking opportunities between sectors, countries and territories. The study draw responses from 729 companies from 21 countries and territories and six broad industry sectors. Central to the research is an analysis of whether companies are mentioning the SDGs in their reporting on business strategy, recognizing this is a key indicator of whether change is being made to the level and scale that will be necessary to achieve the Goals.

Key findings include: 

• 72% of companies mention the SDGs in their annual corporate or sustainability report
• 50% of companies have identified priority SDGs
• 54% of those that prioritized the Goals, mention them in their business strategy
• 19% of CEO or Chair statements in annual reports mention the SDGs
• 28% of companies disclosed meaningful KPIs related to the SDGs