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2023, vol. 71, iss. 1-2, pp. 77-100
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Investing in the SDGs and reporting by ESG metrics: The accounting perspective
Investiranje u ciljeve održivog razvoja i ESG izveštavanje - računovodstvena perspektiva
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Economy, Department of Accounting and Business Finance, Serbia
Abstract
There are less than ten years left to achieve the goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, it seems that the remaining work on their implementation will take far more time than expected. This is particularly the case in developing countries which face difficulties in providing the necessary sources of finance for the acquisition of new technologies, investment in infrastructure projects, and the development of cleaner and environmentally-friendly production. Objective circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Europe and the subsequent energy crisis, have further slowed down these processes, threatening to undo the positive developments in the implementation of the sustainable development goals. Despite a significant progress made in the field of transparent reporting aimed at supporting the achievement of sustainable development goals, our impression is that a great number of different institutions have invested efforts to make a step forward in this domain, but due to the lack of globally coordinated activities, we are still far from a universal conceptual framework. That path is paved with numerous challenges. First, a high-quality conceptual framework must be compliant with the sustainable development goals to be able to track the global progress in their achievement, which requires an adequate system of performance measurement and monitoring at the global level. Second, the operationalization of sustainable development goals, recognized at the global level, must be followed by the adoption of compatible reporting at the corporate level, bearing in mind that companies are actually most responsible for local and planetary problems. The risks arising from inadequate performance measurement at the corporate level are far from being negligible. They are related to the efficiency in channeling limited capital toward the sectors and companies where it will be possible to produce the most beneficial environmental effects. At the same time, there is a risk of potential abuse with regard to the disclosure of good news or the cover-up of bad news, which casts doubt on the accuracy of information on the progress in achieving the SDGs, increasing risks of the misallocation of resources. In this paper, we investigate the complexity of aligning corporate reporting with the requirements imposed by the SDGs.
Sažetak
Ostalo je još manje od deset godina da se realizuju ciljevi postavljeni u Agendi za održivi razvoj 2030. Preostali poslovi u tom pravcu čini se da ubedljivo nadilaze taj period. To je posebno slučaj u nedovoljno razvijenim zemljama, koje imaju problem sa obezbeđenjem neophodnih izvora finansiranja za nabavku novih tehnologija, ulaganja u infrastrukturne projekte, obezbeđenje čistije i ekološki zdravije proizvodnje. Objektivne okolnosti, kao što su kovid 19, ratna zbivanja u Evropi i njima uslovljena energetska kriza, dodatno su usporili ove procese, preteći da ponište pozitivne pomake u realizaciji ciljeva održivog razvoja. Uprkos značajnom napretku na području transparentnog izveštavanja koje bi podržalo ostvarenje ciljeva održivog razvoja, utisak je da su u tom domenu prisutni napori većeg broja različitih institucija da se napravi iskorak, ali da nas nedostatak globalno koordiniranih aktivnosti još čini dosta udaljenim od jedinstvenog konceptualnog okvira na ovom području. Izazovi u tom smislu su veliki. Prvo, kvalitetan konceptualni okvir mora da bude kompatibilan sa ciljevima održivog razvoja, kako bi se mogli pratiti globalni pomaci u njihovom dostizanju, što podrazumeva adekvatan sistem merenja i praćenja globalnih ostvarenja. Drugo, operacionalizacija ciljeva održivog razvoja, prepoznatih na globalnom nivou, mora ići u pravcu kompatibilnog izveštavanja na nivou preduzeća, koja su realno najveći uzročnik lokalnih i planetarnih problema. Rizici od pogrešnog merenja performansi na korporativnom nivou daleko su od zanemarljivih. Oni su povezani sa efikasnošću kanalisanja ograničenog kapitala prema sektorima i preduzećima gde će ekološki efekti biti najveći. U isto vreme, moguća zloupotreba objavljivanja dobrih i prikrivanja loših vesti ostavlja sumnju u tačnost informacija o dostignućima u realizaciji ciljeva održivog razvoja, povećavajući rizike od pogrešne alokacije resursa. U ovom radu istražujemo kompleksnost izveštavanja na korporativnom nivou u skladu sa zahtevima ciljeva održivog razvoja.
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