Spanish business commitment to the 2030 Agenda in uncertain times

Abstract

Sustainability has become strategic since companies are aware that they must make a positive contribution to society and the environment in which they operate. At the same time, alliances have been formed and pacts have been made among nations to attempt to solve the social, economic and environmental problems that today's society faces. This is the case of the UN's 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This action plan entails the development of different initiatives to help face the challenges of this century, which have increased notably with the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this study is to carry out an analysis of Spanish companies' commitment to the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs and verify what types of activities they propose to ratify their commitment in an uncertain period for firms. For a sample of 100 observations of Spanish firms in 2020 and 2021, we evidence that SDGs 4 (Quality education), 8 (Decent work and economic growth), 9 (Industry, innovation, and infrastructure), 13 (Climate action) and 17 (Partnerships for the goals) have been adopted by many companies, which have presented initiatives, projects and programmes to achieve their goals. Commitment to the SDGs had a positive evolution in 2021, i.e., firms created economic value, protected the environment and contributed to greater social well-being. Our results show companies' preferences in terms of stakeholders as their SDGs' actions focus on women, older people, young people, workers and trade unions, local governments and researchers in issues related to climate change. The paper contributes with a global assessment of companies' initiatives and helps to determine the impact of uncertain environments on business commitments to the 2030 Agenda.