Resumo

Financially material, sustainability accounting is critical to catalyzing private sector funds to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information within the consumer goods sector is regularly found to have a weaker relationship to the SDGs when compared to other sectors. In this essay, we discuss the roadmap for pairing Sustainable Account Standards Board (SASB) material indicators for the consumer goods sector with the SDGs indicators.

Academic literature on SDG corporate reporting and ESG financial materiality remains in a nascent stage, despite global acknowledgment that we are well behind on achieving the SDGs. The question of whether accounting that supports development goals can be integrated with conventional accounting remains a debated topic (Hopper et al., 2017). Between US$3.3-4.5 trillion must be deployed if nations hope to achieve the SDGs by 2030. Developing countries face an average funding gap of $US2.5 trillion annually, in both public and private investment in SDG-related sectors (UN, 2018).

There is much room for overlap between SASB’s ESG metrics and the SDGs in the consumer sector that can address growing stakeholder pressure on businesses in the sector—to improve both the financial bottom line and impact. The mapping exercise with the UN SDG indicators highlights that there are several development goals that remain unaddressed or have weak linkages to consumer sector ESG materiality.

Hopper, T., Lassou, P., & Soobaroyen, T. (2017). Globalization, accounting, and developing countries. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 43, 125–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2016.06.003 UN forum highlights ‘fundamental’ role of private sector in advancing new global goals. (2015, September 26). United Nations Sustainable Development. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2015/09/un-forum-highlights-fundamental-role-of-private-sector-in-advancing-new-global-goals/