The Sustainable Development Goals and Leading European Retailers

Jones, Peter ORCID: 0000-0002-9566-9393 and Comfort, Daphne (2021) The Sustainable Development Goals and Leading European Retailers. Athens Journal of Business and Economics, 7 (1). pp. 105-122.

Preview

Text (© the Authors) 9197-Jones-(2021)-The-sustainable-development-goals.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial 4.0. Download (813kB) | Preview

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed at a United Nations General Assembly in 2015 embrace an ambitious and wide-ranging set of global environmental, social and economic issues designed to effect a transition to a more sustainable future; the United Nations important role of the private sector in addressing the SDGs. The majority of Europe’s leading retailers have been pursuing sustainability strategies, and reporting on their achievements against their strategies, for some time and within the European retail community there is a recognition that retailers have a vital role to play in contributing to the achievement of the SDGs. This exploratory paper reviews and reflects on how seven of Europe’s leading retailers claim to be committed to addressing the SDGs. The findings revealed that all seven retailers reported on their commitment to contributing to the achievement of the SDGs, though the scale and the extent of their commitment varied. In reviewing the retailers’ approach to the SDGs, the authors drew attention to a number of issues namely, concentration on specific SDGs, issues of measurement and reporting and tensions between sustainability and economic growth.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sustainable development goals; retailing; Europe; economic growth; reporting
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5001 Business > HF5428 Retail Trade
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences
Research Priority Areas:	Applied Business & Technology
Depositing User:	Anne Pengelly
Date Deposited:	22 Dec 2020 11:12
Last Modified:	03 Aug 2023 09:15
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/9197

University Staff: Request a correction | Repository Editors: Update this record