Corporate involvement in Sustainable Development Goals: Exploring the territory

Waal, J.W.H. van der; Thijssens, Thomas

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119625

Cited by 225 publications

(272 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Particularly, this study raises the question of the quality and functions of corporate environmental communication through strategic documents. This question should be put on the current research agenda, as it refers to a very urgent and hotly-debated problem of the efficacy of corporate documents in environmental policy [38]. It seems to be possible to consider codes of conduct as an important channel of corporate environmental communication, as well as to state that the information in the codes may differ from what is said in the other strategic statements.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate-Friendly Ethics Prescribed by Top World Airlines: Empirical Evidence

Ruban

Yashalova

2020

Climate

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The aviation industry contributes substantially to the global climate change, and, thus, airline companies need development of climate-friendly ethics. The content of the codes of conduct of 16 airline companies boasting either the greatest number of daily departures or the largest air fleet (or both) are analyzed. It is established that 25% of these companies prescribe climate-friendly behavior often focusing on emissions. Moreover, many other companies prescribe pro-environmental behavior. The situation seems to be promising, although improvements of the existing corporate ethical prescriptions are necessary. Despite its tentative character and certain limitations, this study permits putting the climate-friendly ethics of airlines on the international agenda. Practically, it is important to add climate-related notions to those codes of conduct where these do not exist and to use successful examples as ethical templates for the entire aviation industry.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate-Friendly Ethics Prescribed by Top World Airlines: Empirical Evidence

Ruban

Yashalova

2020

Climate

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“…The complexity of sustainability issues is also reflected in the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which portray the scope of, as well as the interrelations inherent in grand challenges. Therefore, the SDG framework has become a pivotal point in discussions and policy work for addressing sustainability [25] and to some extend sustainability efforts within companies [26,27].…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent examples of such dynamics are evident in the introduction of frameworks such as the aforementioned SDGs, which stress the necessity of private firms' active participation [37]. An interesting study by van der Waal and Thijssens [27] on 2000 large stock listed companies shows that, while SDG involvement is still lacking behind, their involvement can be driven by a mixture of legitimacy and institutional motives. Similarly, the concept of circular economy represents a normative framework that firms can connect to in order to decrease the negative environmental externalities of their operations [38][39][40].…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a Typology of Sustainability Practices: A Study of the Potentials and Challenges of Sustainable Practices at the Firm Level

Jacobsen¹,

Korsgaard

Günzel-Jensen

2020

Sustainability

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International awareness and demands for sustainable development have pushed the sustainability narrative into the forefront of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As a result, the call for sustainable business practices has never been greater. While businesses are both needed and eager to contribute to sustainable development, current literature lacks insights into how businesses can practice sustainability. This paper aims to fill this gap and develop an understanding of the different categories of sustainability practices that firms adopt, and the potentials and challenges associated with them. Based on a qualitative multiple case study, we identify four categories of sustainability practices including inspiring and informing, productizing, co-creating and system building. We integrate these findings into a sustainability maturity typology, proposing that these four practices are associated with an increasing intensity of sustainability intention, so that firms realize increasing levels of sustainability in the focal business practices as they move from inspiring and informing through to system building. The article concludes by arguing that there is no generic “one size fits all” approach to support sustainability practices as approaches need to fit a firm’s sustainability maturity.

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“…In addition, Beberman and Unerman [ 13 ] found that reporting could be used to camouflage business-as-usual by applying SDG-related sustainability rhetoric. Furthermore, a recent study of the sustainability reports of the 2,000 largest stock market-listed businesses worldwide conducted by van der Waal and Thijssens [ 14 ] shows not only that corporate involvement in the SDGs is still limited, but that it is also largely symbolic and intentional in nature, rather than substantive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The framing of a sustainable development goals assessment in decarbonizing the construction industry – Avoiding “Greenwashing”

Johnsson

Karlsson

Rootzén

et al. 2020

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

110

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The aim of this paper is to contribute to the establishment of a robust framework for the assessment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in businesses, using the construction industry as an example and with the primary focus on combating climate change (SDG 13). We provide a critical analysis of a selection of relatively widely used SDG impact assessment tools, combined with a case study from the construction industry to explore how a meaningful SDG assessment can be framed with linkages between SDG 13 and other related SDGs. Our analysis points towards the importance of framing SDG assessments in a way that discourages “Greenwashing”. Any SDG assessment that relates to climate targets in line with the Paris Agreement should identify the processes and activities that can be expected to be particularly challenging in terms of their abatement. In our road construction work case, we identify four such hard-to-abate activities: 1) introducing biomass for renewable transportation fuels for use in construction equipment and heavy transport; 2) electrification of transport and industrial processes; 3) substitution as part of transitioning from fossil fuel use; and 4) applying carbon capture and storage technologies in the production of basic materials, such as cement and steel. The approach applied will avoid that businesses only focus on SDGs in situations where they are already performing well or can apply low-cost measures or that they only relate to the part of the supply chain that pertains to their own business (Scope 1 emissions). For an SDG assessment to provide basis for informed decisions regarding real change towards more sustainable and equitable corporate practices it should: (i) identify and include concrete measures to align with the terms of the Paris Agreement; (ii) include relevant value chains; and (iii) consider both the short-term and long-term effects of strategic choices.

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Corporate involvement in Sustainable Development Goals: Exploring the territory

Cited by 225 publications

References 56 publications

Climate-Friendly Ethics Prescribed by Top World Airlines: Empirical Evidence

Climate-Friendly Ethics Prescribed by Top World Airlines: Empirical Evidence

Towards a Typology of Sustainability Practices: A Study of the Potentials and Challenges of Sustainable Practices at the Firm Level

The framing of a sustainable development goals assessment in decarbonizing the construction industry – Avoiding “Greenwashing”

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