Disclosures on the Sustainable Development Goals in the non-financial reports of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange

Abstract

Purpose: The article aims to determine whether and how companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) presented their commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in integrated or non-financial reports prepared from 2019 to 2022. Methodology/approach: Content analysis of 235 reports of listed companies (from 55 to 62 depending on the year) was used to identify the number and type of disclosed indicators of companies’ implementation of the SDGs according to the guidelines of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Accounting and Reporting Standards (UNCTAD-ISAR), and the panel regression method was applied to verify four research hypotheses. Findings: Although about 2/3 of the companies have declared their commitment to the SDGs, the number of companies that disclosed information on the implementation of the SDGs was lower. Of the 34 core SDG indicators intended for enterprises, according to the UNCTAD-ISAR, companies listed on the WSE used, on average, only 32% in 2019 and 37% in 2022. Thus, the average number of indicators increased from 11 to 13 in this period; the highest number of disclosed metrics was 22 in two very large entities. The study indicates that company size, its belonging to a “sinful” industry, and the number of declared SDGs

Keywords

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
• Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Accounting and Reporting Standards
• non-financial report
• Warsaw Stock Exchange
• core SDG indicators