Tuesday, January 23, 2018


Calcbench recently received yet another inquiry about sustainability; a hot topic as of late. A client wanted to know, “Are companies disclosing information on sustainability and UN Sustainable Development Goals?”

The answer: Yes.

For some context, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 global goals determined by the United Nations, covering a wide range of social and economic issues, to help guide member states as they frame their agendas and political policies.

Just as we did in a Quick Look at ‘Corporate Sustainability’ and More on Researching Sustainability, we used Calcbench’s Interactive Disclosure Tool to run a text search on the following keywords:

• “Corporate sustainability”

• “Sustainable Development Goals”

• “Global Compact”

• “Corporate Social Responsibility”

Mentions of sustainability were found within annual reports in proxy statements, business description and risk factors. Below are two examples:

Tetra Tech (TTEK)

Pfizer (PFE)

“Corporate Sustainability” and “Corporate Social Responsibility” were the top mentioned terms in our search, however, there were <20 mentions of SDGs from 2016-2017.

Companies that did mention SDG within their corporate filings:

Overall, it appears that sustainability mentions were significantly reduced in 2017.*

*Information based on Q1 – Q3 2017 v FY 2016

So although companies are in fact reporting sustainability in corporate filings, mentions (so far) are down in 2017. And while companies are disclosing a range of sustainability initiatives, few focused on SDG’s, specifically.

Whatever sustainability inquires you might have, we’ve got the data. Make it your own.

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