• Home
  • News
  • In-depth
  • Opinion
  • Energy
    • Wind
    • Marine
    • Solar
    • Biomass
    • Nuclear
    • CCS
    • Infrastructure
  • Policy
    • Politics
    • Legislation
    • Taxation
  • Management
    • Marketing
    • Risk
    • Skills
    • Incentives
    • Carbon Accounting
  • Technology
    • Waste
    • Recycling
    • R&D
    • Efficiency
    • IT
  • Investment
    • Carbon Trading
    • Offsets
    • Venture Capital
  • Net Zero Now
  • Events & Awards
  • SDG Hub
  • Industry Voice
  • Newsletters
  • Sign in
  •  
      • Newsletters
      • Account details
      • Contact support
      • Sign out
     
    • You are currently accessing BusinessGreen via your Enterprise account.

      If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

      If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

      Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

      Email: [email protected]

      • Sign in
  • Follow us
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Newsletters
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
  • Free Trial
  • Subscribe
  • Events & Awards
    • Upcoming events
      event logo
      NZF Pathway - Finance

      This exclusive half day online event will investigate how all businesses can support and accelerate the transition to low and net zero carbon buildings, while maximising the financial and productivity opportunities that will result.

      • Date: 16 Mar 2021
      • Online Event
      event logo
      Net Zero Festival 2021

      Net Zero Festival is the world's first business festival dedicated to exploring, advancing, and celebrating the global transition to a net zero emission economy. Join us at BusinessGreen's Net Zero Festival – for leaders who won't wait until 2050 to build a better business, and a better world.

      • Date: 27 Sep 2021
      • Worldwide
      View all events
  • SDG Hub
Business Green
Business Green
  • Home
  • News
  • In-depth
  • Opinion
  • Energy
  • Policy
  • Management
  • Technology
  • Investment
  • Net Zero Now
 
    • Newsletters
    • Account details
    • Contact support
    • Sign out
 
  • You are currently accessing BusinessGreen via your Enterprise account.

    If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

    If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

    Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

    Email: [email protected]

    • Sign in
  • Hot topics
  • Green recovery
  • Net Zero Now
  • Net Zero Leadership
  • Net Zero Finance
Bg bnp hub ribbon
  • Risk

Global bodies seek better corporate reporting guidelines for SDGs

Corporate reporting bodies have come together to try and better link SDGs with financial performance
Corporate reporting bodies have come together to try and better link SDGs with financial performance
  • BusinessGreen staff
  • BusinessGreen staff
  • 04 March 2019
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
0 Comments

Corporate reporting bodies including CDP and Climate Disclosure Standards Board set out plans to improve links between SDGs and company financial performance

A group of the world's leading corporate reporting bodies have resolved to work together to develop better, more cohesive company reporting guidelines to help demonstrate the financial benefits of progress towards the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In a position paper published last week, organisations such as CDP and the Climate Disclosure Standards Board set out their joint plan to provide companies with improved frameworks to help measure progress towards all 17 of the SDGs.

Related articles

  • Solar Trade Association rebrands as Solar Energy UK
  • Vauxhall faces mass action lawsuit over alleged emissions test 'cheating'
  • Impossible Foods brings former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres onto board
  • EN+ Group vows to achieve net zero emission aluminium and energy production by 2050

By working together through the Corporate Reporting Dialogue, an initiative set up in 2014 by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), the organisations said they aimed to boost business understanding of the links between the goals, financial performance, and risk management.

The Dialogue, which came in response to market calls for greater consistency between corporate reporting frameworks and standards, includes CDP, Climate Disclosure Standards Board, the Global Reporting Initiative, the International Integrated Reporting Council, the International Organization for Standardization, and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board.

The new co-authored paper - entitled SDGs and the future of corporate reporting - seeks to identify how corporate reporting can illustrate which specific SDGs are relevant to a company's business model, thereby enabling both businesses and investors to focus on those SDGs most likely to affect financial performance, explained the IIRC.

Adopted in 2015 and running through to 2030, the SDGs set 17 goals and 169 sub-targets covering almost every aspect of sustainable development, including poverty eradication, climate action, gender rights, education, and biodiversity.

They have been praised by experts for highlighting the integrated and global nature of global economic development and the risks the world faces. As such they have been adopted by many businesses as a means of shaping and driving their sustainability efforts. However, the SDGs have also been criticised in some quarters for being too complex and wide-rangin, making it difficult for businesses, governments, and investors to develop effective SDG strategies.

The new paper attempts to highlight how businesses can use the SDGs as a framework for their sustainability programmes and emphasises the importance of companies more closely integrating financial and non-financial information in their disclosures in order to demonstrate how action on the SDGs creates value for stakeholders in both the short and long term.

Finally, the paper outlines the work that corporate reporting bodies, framework providers, and standard-setters must undertake to ensure businesses have guidance on how to assess progress against the 17 SDGs' underlying 169 sub-targets and that they are producing "meaningful" information for investors and stakeholders.

"We will strive with our further co-operation to enable effective and efficient capital allocation for the benefit of companies, investors, and society," the paper states. "This includes providing frameworks that measure progress toward achieving the SDGs, and providing frameworks that enable a better understanding of the link between the SDGs and company financial performance and risk."

The news comes as BMO Global Asset Management today became the latest global investment giant to announce a new fund based on the SDGs.

The BMO SDG Engagement Global Equity Fund has been seeded by UBS Global Wealth Management through its 100 per cent sustainable investing initiative and will take "targeted, impact-focused, active engagement with investee companies" to drive progress on the SDGs.

The fund will hold between 40 to 60 global small- and mid-cap equities that have been selected against strict criteria for quality and value. "Only companies where we see scope for driving improvement towards SDG targets, through a tailored programme of engagement, warrant a place in the portfolio," the company said.

"In our view, responsibly engaging with public companies and changing their behaviour for the better is one of the most exciting new areas of impact investing," said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management. "It also forms a core part of our 100 per cent sustainable cross-asset portfolio for private clients. By improving their social and environmental performance, firms can mitigate risks, support their brands, and take advantage of sustainable business opportunities. For investors, successful engagement should be a win-win result."

  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
  • Topics
  • Risk
  • Investment
  • IIRC
  • Corporate reporting
  • CDP
  • climate disclosure

More on Risk

    • Investment
Net Zero Investment: What role do investors play?
    • Investment
    • 19 January 2021
    • Investment
Scaling up sustainable finance: How can investors accelerate the net zero transition?
    • Investment
    • 15 January 2021
Credit: Poulssen
    • Investment
Aegon commits to net zero across its default pension funds by 2050
    • Investment
    • 15 January 2021
Adapting to increasingly severe climate impacts has fallen is not receiving enough attention from governments, according to UNEP | Credit: South Agency
    • Climate change
Climate adaptation: Could nature based solutions help bridge the gap?
    • Climate change
    • 14 January 2021
    • Investment
Pensions and investment industries launch stewardship steering group
    • Investment
    • 14 January 2021
The Alliance boasts 33 members holding $5.1tr of assets worldwide
    • Investment
Target Setting Protocol: Investor group worth $5.1tr unveils 2025 portfolio decarbonisation goals
    • Investment
    • 14 January 2021
Barclays UK Retirement Fund is just the latest to incorporate climate risk considerations more deeply into its investment decisions
    • Investment
Barclays' UK retirement fund to screen for climate risk in £1.3bn growth portfolio
    • Investment
    • 14 January 2021
    • Management
TSB banks on new roadmap to deliver net zero operational emissions by 2030
    • Management
    • 13 January 2021

More news

The deadline for delivering net zero buildings future is fast approaching
  • Buildings
The deadline for delivering net zero buildings future is fast approaching

Businesses and policymakers must set clear and credible pathways to reach a net zero buildings future as soon as possible, explains AECOM's Robert Spencer

  • 19 January 2021
Solar Trade Association rebrands as Solar Energy UK
  • Solar
Solar Trade Association rebrands as Solar Energy UK

Revamped trade body aims to 'lead the solar and energy storage industries into a brighter subsidy-free era'

  • 19 January 2021
Vauxhall faces mass action lawsuit over alleged emissions test 'cheating'
  • BusinessGreen
Vauxhall faces mass action lawsuit over alleged emissions test 'cheating'

Up to 600,000 cars sold to UK drivers over a 10-year period may have been installed with defeat devices, according to law firm fronting mass claim

  • 19 January 2021
Net Zero Investment: What role do investors play?
  • Investment
Net Zero Investment: What role do investors play?

VIDEO: Catch up on panel discussion with Carbon Tracker's Mark Campanale, Scottish Widows' Shipra Gupta, and Schroders' Hannah Simons - available on demand here

  • 19 January 2021
blog comments powered by Disqus
Back to Top

Most read

Mars and DHL plot £350m UK logistics hubs to slash one million road miles
Mars and DHL plot £350m UK logistics hubs to slash one million road miles
Essar and Progressive Energy plot £750m hydrogen CCS hub in Cheshire
Essar and Progressive Energy plot £750m hydrogen CCS hub in Cheshire
BYD and ADL to expand UK electric bus manufacturing operations
BYD and ADL to expand UK electric bus manufacturing operations
How NatWest Group is measuring its working-from-home emissions
How NatWest Group is measuring its working-from-home emissions
Study: Fleet electrification primed to soar as heavier-duty EVs come online
Study: Fleet electrification primed to soar as heavier-duty EVs come online
  • Contact Us
  • Marketing solutions
  • About Incisive Media
  • Terms and conditions
  • Policies
  • Careers
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Incisive Footer Logo

© Incisive Business Media (IP) Limited, Published by Incisive Business Media Limited, New London House, 172 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5QR, registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 09177174 & 09178013

Digital publisher of the year
Digital publisher of the year 2010, 2013, 2016 & 2017
Loading