This study explores the response of five large Swedish companies to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG12, that aims to achieve responsible consumption and production. The SDGs were launched in 2015. We set out to explore two questions: 1. Before and after 2015, to what extent have these companies talked about sustainability and the SDGs (ambition). And 2. Before and after 2015, to what extent these companies responded to the SDGs in the form of more responsible consumption and production patterns (action). As indicators of more responsible consumption and production we assessed data about emissions, waste, as well as energy consumption and energy sources. Covering the period 2013–2021, we analysed the companies’ annual reports biennially specifically the years 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021. We found that, since the launch of the SDGs, the company reports showed an increase in references to sustainability as well as to the SDGs (more ambition). The reports also indicated more responsible production with respect to emissions (more action). The assessment of energy consumption and the use of renewable energy sources showed that energy consumption has been stable over time for most companies while most companies have seen an increase in use of renewable energy. The assessment of more responsible waste management was inconclusive due to varying indicators and incomplete reporting by the researched companies. Our conclusion is that, in large Swedish companies, the SDGs inspired more attention to sustainability and possibly changed consumption and production patterns, especially with regard to emissions. Our main recommendation is that further research should advance more standardised reporting on the SDGs. We also recommend researching full supply chains rather than individual companies only.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-510070 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Natobidze, Ioseb, Van Zwieten, Matthijs, Rosell, William |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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