Disclosure of sustainability development goals in the integrated reports of JSE listed companies

Abstract: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (hereafter UN’s SDGs) for 2030 call on all to contribute to ensuring a sustainable environment for the benefit of current and future generations, while the United Nations Global Compact appeals to businesses to take the lead in ensuring the achievement of Agenda 2030 by 2030. This study focused on understanding how the 23 JSE-listed companies that were selected for investigation contributed to the UN’s SDGs based on the disclosures they included in their integrated reports. Of the 23 companies, which represented the mining, banking, mobile telecommunications and general retail industries, only seven disclosed how they contributed to the UN’s SDGs. The 2019 integrated reports were analysed, and the results indicated that the companies understood the goals of Agenda 2030, which guided their contributions to the UN’s SDGs. This study highlighted ways in which different industries can work together towards achieving the UN’s SDGs, and this is encouraged by Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals. The disclosures included the reports of the selected companies can be used to define best practice which will ensure comparability and consistency. This study also suggested other avenues that can be explored in this field.M.Com. (International Accounting