Reporting Against the Sustainable Development Goals in the UK
In September 2015, world leaders came together to create the 17 sustainable development goals which were implemented on 1st of January 2016. However, some countries have been more proactive in implementing progress towards these goals in their individual nations. Among those world leaders was included the United Kingdom, who were a signatory of the UN resolution and 2030 Agenda. This article seeks to evaluate the UK’s approach to the successful achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, across both the public and private sphere.
According to the UK government in 2019,
““The Goals have helped us not just to compare our programmes abroad with those at home but also to reconsider our approach in the UK – a vision that is not just about raising incomes but stretches to thinking about the quality of our cities, the strength of our communities, the air that we breathe, our nature and landscape and the way we preserve our heritage for future generations.””
The UK government take part in the reviews against the SDGs conducted by the UN, but also publish their own “Voluntary National Review of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.” In the latest review, conducted in 2019, the UK government lays out their thinking with regards to implementing the goals, in particular how to incorporate these goals into their policy and planning frameworks as well as using data and tracking progress towards the Goals. In addition, and more importantly, the UK government specifically report on their actions undertaken to achieve each individual goal through c.200 pages of detailed reports.
It is very encouraging to see this reporting as it helps keep the UK government accountable to the commitments it made in late 2015 when signing the UN resolution, implementing the SDGs. For example, in the latest report conducted by the UK government, the planning and performance framework was criticised for its lack of detail and commitments were made to refine the framework to increase the level of detail provided.
Unfortunately, the review in 2019 was the first review of progress against the SDGs since their implementation on the 1stof January 2016, and it is still the only review to be undertaken to date. A progress review on an annual basis would be more substantial as it will enable the government to more rapidly understand where issues arise and mobilise their response to these issues. Without the annual review of progress, the issues raised in 2019 are still the latest to be dealt with and therefore progress against the goals is slowed.
Similarly to the UK government, a number of the UKs largest corporates conduct reviews to determine the progress their company makes against the SDGs. The UK listing authority has recently mandated companies listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange to include a statement in their annual report confirming if they have made climate-related disclosures consistent with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). This corresponds with the UK government’s Green Finance Strategy outlining plans to align the private sector financial system with the government’s target of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 through supporting investment in green and low carbon technologies, services and infrastructure.
Whether by mandate, per the UK listing authority’s ruling on climate related disclosures, or out of their own initiative, some of the UK’s largest companies have now decided to report very detailed sustainability disclosures on an annual basis. Tesco, one of the UK’s largest supermarket retailers, developed a program called “The Little Helps Plan” which focuses on responding to the global challenges affecting all stakeholders associated with their business and aims to help the company practice more sustainable ways and contribute to the aim of the Agenda 2030.
Tesco notes that the SDGs “have helped to inform our thinking about where we can play a role and make the biggest difference.” In fact, Tesco now believes they can contribute in different ways and in different degrees to the SDGs, but have selected a few that seem particularly relevant to themselves. They have made commitments against these priority goals and will report on an annual basis against each. For example, against Goal #2 “Zero Hunger;” Tesco made the commitment that no food safe for human consumption will go to waste in their UK retail operation. In particular, they committed to redistributing surplus food to help feed people in communities where help is needed, in partnership with food banks and regional charities in local communities.
In May 2021, Tesco outlined their progress against these individual “priority goals,” including their data performance to date. For example, as noted above Tesco had made a commitment to not waste any edible food from their UK operations. The data published in May 2021 showed that 82% of unsold food safe for human consumption was redistributed to humans or animals and there was a 42% reduction in their own operations food waste across the group. This annual data published by the group allows all stakeholders to see the tangible progress made against each individual SDG and the company’s specific commitments for each SDG, helping to accelerate the company’s progress towards the SDGs, in line with the UK government’s individual commitment.
For corporates, some may think that these commitments made against the SDGs will tie the hands of executives that are supposed to be focussed on making profits for their shareholders. However, we have seen even over the last few years, that governments, listing authorities and regulators have become stricter in regard to sustainability metrics. Tesco, through taking the lead in reporting at this early stage, have set themselves up well with an appropriate structure in place to hit future requirements as reporting standards evolve. In addition, reporting against these standards have other incremental benefits for Tesco as a corporate. Firstly, it makes the company more attractive for ESG investors, or may have certain funds allocated solely towards investment in sustainable businesses. In essence, this widens the pool of capital available to Tesco, as well as improving stakeholder relations across the spectrum.
Finally, by reporting against the SDGs, Tesco demonstrates that it is conscious of its customers that are becoming more environmentally and socially responsible. Tesco can use its performance against the SDGs to help improve its relationships with its customers and help drive sales into the future – as is seen by other customer facing initiatives it has made in recent times, such as the recent partnership with the World Wildlife Foundation.
In conclusion, the UK is an outperformer when considering global sustainability standards, since the implementation of the SDGs in 2016. Across society, in the public and private spheres, the UK demonstrates that it can use the SDGs to help formulate comprehensive sustainability targets over time. In particular, we have found that the most important initiative taken thus far is regular reporting against these initiatives, as it holds individual reporters account for their actions. We would encourage the UK government to accelerate their reporting to an annual basis, such that progress can be evaluated more regularly than is currently in place.
https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/three-ways-were-fighting-your-world-tesco
