Previously I have written about the importance of the healthcare, resource transformation, and food and beverage sectors to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The underlying data for that blog are based on a paper “The Relationship Between Investor Materiality and the Sustainable Development Goals: A Methodological Framework” that I wrote with Professors Gianni Betti and Costanza Consolandi of the University of Siena. A summary of our methodology is provided in my healthcare blog. In brief, we mapped the material environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in all 79 industries organized into 11 sectors, developed by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), to the 169 targets of the SDGs. SASB has identified the material ESG issues for each industry that are important to shareholders in terms of value creation. Mapping these issues to the SDGs’ targets enabled us to assess how each industry is creating value for society. For this we created an index that ranges from 0 to 100.

In this post I will analyze the importance of the consumption sector. It’s overall score is 20.1—compared to 36.0 for food and beverage, 32.6 for healthcare, and 28.4 for resource transformation—making it the lowest of the sectors in terms of SDG impact that I have written about so far. There is variation with this sector of seven industries, although with one exception it is not especially dramatic: multiline & specialty retailers & distributors (28.6); household & personal products (25.4); e-commerce (25.1); buildings products & furnishings (20.0); toys & sporting goods (17.0); apparel, accessories & footwear (15.5); and appliance manufacturing (8.9). This sector has its highest impact on five SDGs, all at about the same level: #9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure-26.1), #12 (Responsible Consumption and Production-25.8), #13 (Climate Action-25.4), #14 (Life Below Water-27.1), and #15 (Life On Land-29.7). The ESG issue of supply chain management in the category of business model and innovation is a very important one for all five of these SDGs. The SDGs for which this sector has the least impact are #1 (No Poverty-13.0) and #16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions-12.4).

In contrast to the food and beverage industry, there is substantial variation in terms of the SDGs for which each industry has the most impact. While many industries have a number of top SDGs in common, there are some whose top list is quite distinctive. This is illustrated by the fact that the industry with the highest SDG score (multiline & specialty retailers & distributors) has its highest impact on four SDGs that are not at the top for the overall sector: #5 (Gender Equality-61.1), #10 (Reduced Inequalities-50.0), #8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth-47.9), and #1 (No Poverty-45.5 [and which is at the bottom of the list for the sector as a whole]). It is also the only industry for which #s 1, 8, and 10 are at the top. For #1 (No Poverty) the industry impacts all five of its targets, it impacts all 10 of the targets for #8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), but only three of the seven targets for #10 (Reduced Inequalities). These SDGs are all about social issues. This very labor intensive industry has the opportunity to positively impact these SDGs through its hiring practices and wage levels. The SDGs of least importance are #2 (Zero Hunger-0.0) and #11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities-5.3).

Packaged Green Toys Inc. Scooper construction truck toys sit ready for shipment at the company’s production facility inside the Kennerley-Spratling Inc. plastic manufacturing plant in San Leandro, California, U.S., on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. The U.S. Census is scheduled to release durable goods figures on May 25. Photographer: Cayce Clifford/Bloomberg

Another distinctive industry compared to the sector-level results is toys & sporting goods. Its top SDGs are #2 (Zero Hunger-20.0), #3 (Good Health and Well Being-29.4), #4 (Quality Education-75.0), and #15 (Life On Land-22.0). The contrast between this industry and the one above with #2 is vivid. This illustrates another example of variation in this sector where SDGs that are in the top for some industries are in the bottom for others. Several examples are given below.

The importance of toys & sporting goods is due to its impact on three of its five targets regarding access to poor and vulnerable people to safe and nutritious food (T2.1), ending all forms of malnutrition (T2.2). and ensuring sustainable food production systems and implementing resilient agricultural practices (T2.4). These are related to SASB’s material issues of customer welfare and fair marketing and advertising (in the category of social capital) and product quality and safety (in the category of business model and innovation). This industry impacts four of the nine targets for #3 (Good Health and Well Being) through the social issues of customer welfare, fair disclosure and labeling, and fair marketing and advertising. The high score on #4 (Quality Education-75.0), the highest score for any SDG for any industry, is through its impact on targets 4.3 (equal access for all women and men to affordable education), 4.4 (increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills), 4.5 (eliminate gender disparities in education), and 4.7 (ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development). Properly used, toys and sporting goods can play an important role in education, especially they are accessible to all. The SDGs for which this industry has the least impact are #1 (9.1), #8 (6.3) and #10 (9.1) [both of which are in the top four for multiline & specialty retailers & distributors], and #11 (5.3) [also in the bottom for this industry].

Source link for this article