Sustainable development goals and the implications of business responsibility

Abstract

The world faces tremendous socio-economic and environmental challenges, and to address these, the UN provides a global framework in the form of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which can also be applied to the business sector. India's BRR (Business Responsibility Report) system guides corporate sustainability; however, it lacks a clear alignment with the SDGs. In order to address this knowledge gap, this study creates a mapping system that can better align Indian companies' sustainability practices with the SDGs. The study, employing a hybrid methodology, conducts a sustainability content analysis with Critical Hermeneutic Analysis (CHA) to design and develop the mapping system incorporating SDGs and respective targets and indicators. The mapping system is applied to three Indian companies of different sizes. This demonstrates that the application is possible, although not being considered by the Indian business sector while using BRR. Through this mapping approach applied in the case of India, the study demonstrates the potential for replicability for SDG inclusion in other nations as well. In addition, the findings provide new insights for policymakers and business leaders to improve SDGs' integration in corporate reporting, promoting sustainable practices.