Sustainability initiatives require standardization and regulation facilitated by frameworks. This post discusses ESG and SDGs frameworks. 

Content: 

Converting unsustainable business operations into sustainable practices benefits the brand, society, and lawmakers. Some international guidelines and ESG consulting providers also let you standardize the green technology transformation efforts. This post will explore two complementary frameworks for sustainable business development, i.e., ESG and SDGs. 

What is an ESG Framework? 

ESG inspects how an organization has improved its sustainability accounting compliance across the environmental, social, and governance aspects. Corporate leaders leverage ESG advisory services to identify operations that can decrease their company’s compliance ratings. 

Later, they will develop adequate strategies to address the unsustainable activities that cause pollution, expose business communications to cyberattacks, or result in workplace discrimination. Revising their workflows to reflect eco-friendly and socially inclusive values will improve the business’s ESG score. 

ESG frameworks specify compliance requirements with statistically quantifiable performance attributes. Moreover, many international organizations maintain related databases demonstrating how to use ESG if a company competes in a particular industry. 

What is an SDGs Framework? 

SDGs are the 17 sustainable development goals the United Nations (UN) promoted to create awareness about infrastructure needs that ensure a lasting pollution-free, peaceful, and transparent environment. An SDG framework is a set of guidelines and compliance assessment methods allowing businesses, governments, and ESG consulting professionals to analyze an organization’s progress. 

This framework lists several sustainability metrics, and many countries have adopted it since September 2015. According to the UN, its official implementation began on 1 January 2016. So, companies must study it to understand which compliance metrics are relevant to their business model. 

What Are the 17 Sustainable Develop Goals? 

SDG 1 – No Poverty 

The UN reports that global poverty increased from 8.3% to 9.2% between 2019 to 2020. Therefore, the health crisis in 2019-20 has hurt the progress toward world poverty reduction. The SDG aims to solve the poverty problem by 2030 while considering the living cost threshold at 1.25 US dollars a day. 

SDG 2 – Zero Hunger 

Enhancing the food and agriculture sectors is vital to addressing malnutrition and hunger worldwide. SDGs frameworks focus on increasing the ease of availability and quality of food. A highly nutritious diet will assist companies and public institutions in cases like children experiencing stunted growth at an alarming rate. Other considerations involve addressing the high food price issues that increased due to 2020’s impact on the global supply chain. 

SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-Being 

Although vaccination helped the world reduce measles deaths by 80% between 2000 and 2017, the healthcare emergency in 2020 highlights the necessity of more robust health management and insurance services. Universal health coverage, tobacco control, and epidemic risk prediction are sustainable development priorities in this goal.  

SDG 4 – Quality Education 

SDGs frameworks recognize the significance of adequate educational facilities in building more responsible communities. Therefore, ESG and SDGs frameworks suggest that organizations develop and upgrade schooling, e-learning, and higher education services. Remember, 2020 has hurt the students, preventing them from accessing the resources required to develop modern skills. 

SDG 5 – Gender Equality 

20% of marriages involved a bride younger than 18 years old in 2021, according to the UN. Genital mutilation, abusive treatment, and workplace discrimination against women continue to make achieving gender equality difficult. So, creating opportunities to increase women in leadership is essential, and corporations must cooperate to realize genuine gender equality. 

SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation 

Water-borne diseases and unhygienic living conditions still plague many parts of the world. The United Nations and its signatories want to leverage ESG and sustainability frameworks to address the water scarcity crisis. Furthermore, protecting natural water bodies from pollution risks will be one of the top priorities on the sustainable development agenda. 

SDG 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy 

Industries must wait to phase out conventional energy resources. Transitioning to renewable and cleaner energy sources requires a proactive approach from all stakeholders. Meanwhile, peer benchmarking in ESG consulting will allow for comparative analytics describing how businesses embrace renewable resources. 

SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth 

Employee youth contributes to national development, making the transboundary exchanges in cultural and technological knowledge more seamless. However, the world suffers from a major crisis concerning unemployment among highly qualified young individuals. SDGs and ESG frameworks have also emphasized the urgent need for job creation and vocational skill development. 

SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure 

ESG advisory services have discovered a positive correlation between innovation and sustainability accounting compliance. After all, new technologies mitigate carbon risks and support renewable energy integrations. Therefore, sustainability goals include performance monitoring metrics that help promote extensive research and development (R&D). 

SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities 

The standard of living in developed nations is remarkable difference from that in developing and underdeveloped countries. Additionally, specific communities continue to discriminate against individuals in the name of tradition and social hierarchy. The United Nations are aware of this reality that requires multi-stakeholder corporation. SDGs and ESG frameworks reflect the same. 

SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities 

Unplanned urban expansion has destroyed forests and encouraged illegal slum zones. Therefore, the cities and villages must adopt planned infrastructure development. Otherwise, haphazard urban development will rise as the world’s population increases. Making cities and rural areas conscious of these issues is one of the top priorities of sustainability accounting enthusiasts. 

SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production 

The use-and-throw culture has caused a massive increase in the production, distribution, and consumption of offerings that have become a part of the waste management crisis. The “single-use” items have crowded the shelves for a long time. However, international teamwork is necessary if corporations and consumers want to contribute to the responsible consumption goals in SDG frameworks. 

SDG 13 – Climate Action 

An essential activity in ESG consulting is estimating how an enterprise operation accelerates climate change through greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and illegal effluent dumping. Likewise, industrial development threatening biodiversity requires strict oversight to prevent harm inflicted on the biosphere. The United Nations’ sustainability compliance requirements aim to do this job. 

SDG 14 – Life Below Water 

Coral reefs enable marine life to thrive and prosper. Nevertheless, individuals working in the fishing and shipping industries have utilized business practices that have damaged the population and diversity in the aquatic ecosystems. Consider the impact of water pollution on corals when an oil-transporting ship crosses the ocean. So, ESG advisory services and SDG frameworks inspect these risks. 

SDG 15 – Life on Land 

Desertification and a decrease in soil fertility need urgent initiatives. International and regional organizations must explore methods to address such problems. Also, the loss of forests and cultivatable land can adversely affect other sustainable development goals like reducing world hunger. 

SDG 16 – Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions 

Countries need more efficient judicial review processes to ensure the timely delivery of court judgments. They also exhibit several cases of commercial and administrative corruption. Remember, a country’s economic development demands reliable public institutions. The principle of corporate governance in the private sector is often serving the same objective to curb unjust and criminal activities. 

SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals 

ESG consulting professionals recommend close cooperation between companies, industry associations, professional bodies, universities, and governments worldwide. After all, realizing the vision of sustainable development goals using the available ESG and SDGs frameworks is daunting. If the international community fails to mitigate social and environmental harms, events like macroeconomic downturns and increases in crime rates will disrupt the world. 

Conclusion 

The sustainability accounting principle has inspired investors to consider how a company affects the natural and socio-economic environments. However, ESG and SDGs frameworks enable organizations to analyse and improve their compliance across the metrics like carbon risk mitigation and biodiversity preservation. 

Using advanced technologies to monitor the policy changes and updates in the prominent frameworks allows for outcome-oriented SDG compliance environments. So, consider working with suitable data management professionals. 

SG Analytics, a leader in ESG advisory services, empowers businesses and global institutions to benchmark their sustainability compliance level and financial performance. Contact us today if you want scalable data processing and advanced research solutions to become a sustainable enterprise.