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The social commitment of companies is in danger

2020-07-03T21:57:18.046Z


Experts fear a slowdown in meeting the SDG agenda by 2030, due to Covid-19Investors mark the new roadmap for companies. And the economic dividend is as important as the social one. This makes companies, especially large organizations, take note of the importance for the market, customers, regulators and consumers of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Despite the fact that all this is gaining prominence in the business world, there is still a way to go in...


Investors mark the new roadmap for companies. And the economic dividend is as important as the social one. This makes companies, especially large organizations, take note of the importance for the market, customers, regulators and consumers of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Despite the fact that all this is gaining prominence in the business world, there is still a way to go in the 2030 horizon. Although it has increased 18% compared to the previous two years, the number of companies that include the SDGs in their annual reports of 2018, they still represent less than half (47%) of the 137 companies analyzed in the third report of the Observatory of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), entitled The transformative potential of the SDGs , prepared by Esade and Fundación La Caixa .

This edition measures the contribution of Spanish listed companies to the 2030 Agenda, focusing on Law 11/2018 on non-financial information and diversity and in the context of the so-called decade of action. In recent years, the presence of the SDGs has become widespread in all sectors. Of the 65 companies that mention them in their reports, 46 (71%) link them to their business strategy. This percentage increases by nine points compared to the previous year (62%). This proportion is reduced to 33% based on the total of the companies studied.

For a true transformation to take place, points out Àngel Castiñeira, director of Esade's Chair of LeadershipS and co-author of the report, “transformative leadership is needed in the business world and public policies more committed to the SDGs”. In this sense, he pointed out that the global pandemic can accelerate this change towards a greater commitment to the consumer and the environment.

In short, towards responsible capitalism in tune with the desire of the stakeholders. "We can go towards an ecological acceleration", also encouraged, said Castiñeira, by the Green New Deal , a set of political initiatives of the European Commission with the general objective of making Europe climate neutral by 2050. "We must go towards a green economy, and not an economy based on fossil energy ” . Despite the good intention and the trillion euros destined to achieve this objective, the Esade spokesperson believes that the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 may truncate this paradigm shift.

Àngel Pes, director of the ODS Observatory, also assumes that “the pandemic has hit our societies strongly and will have a markedly negative impact in the period 2020-2030, where leadership will be key to offer even more ambitious responses in terms of economic growth, inequality and not to leave anyone behind ”. It also indicates that it will represent a setback due to the social impact of the crisis, especially due to worsening sanitary conditions, the impoverishment of the population or the unemployment rate .

However, Pes continues, Covid-19 can accelerate beneficial trends in meeting the SDG agenda. For example, the increased digitization of the economy "makes it easier for us to produce more and consume fewer resources." And he trusts that public institutions, especially in the EU, will respond to the economic crisis with the focus on the green agenda.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2020-07-03

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