EVALUATING INDUSTRY LEADERS' PROGRESS ON SDG GOAL 12 RESPONSIBLE PRODUCTION

Abstract

The last two decades have witnessed a rapid increase of methods and indicators to measure sustainable development. Numerous organizations and corporations have adopted sets of sustainable development indicators (SDIs) and corresponding action items to track progress towards sustainable development. Business leaders recognize the importance of sustainability and the negative impact of climate change, pollution, waste management, chemical exposure, and other environmental issues that might affect their business. Since 2015, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)1 were established upon the Millennium Development Goals and converge with the post-2015 development agenda. 17 goals and 169 targets exist that build on the MDGs and complete what these did not achieve. The goals balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social, and environmental.

In SDG 12, a global indicator framework was developed to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. Targets regarding responsible production in SDG 12 includes the following three sub-targets:

12.5 By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse. 12.6 Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle. 12.7 Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities.

Corporations’ contribution to achieve sustainable production has therefore attracted increased interest in several fields. In the market, different types of indices and guidelines exist for directing companies to report their sustainability status in a uniform format. However, the sustainability reports published by companies are largely general. Different industries would have different sustainable components and foci inside of their reports.

II To review the achievement, we analysed progress in three aspects by summarizing the information that the corporations reported in their 2017 sustainability reports in the first part of this research: 1. Adoption of using sustainable source of materials for production and product design innovation. 2. Operation efficiency and carbon footprint reduction during production and logistics processes. 3. Extended responsibility throughout the product cycle, including recycling and life cycle assessment.

In the second part of the research, we evaluated corporations’ performance versus views from the public through news that is available in public search engines. News articles in 2016 and 2018 were selected in order to identify trends before and after the 2017 sustainability reporting. It is clear that, while corporations highlight their great progress on sustainability initiatives, much negativity and complaints exist from the public. To obtain a fuller picture of corporations’ progress, we have to consider information from the public, including NGOs who closely monitor corporations’ sustainability performance and impose pressure on them to drive further improvement.

Therefore, we have drafted a table to put both evaluations together, which provide us with additional insights from different angles. Each of the corporations has its own specific improvement areas. Feedback from the public can also be utilized to evaluate whether or not the companies’ targets and current programs are sufficient to address existing public concerns.