Abstract

This study examines disclosure on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in firms’ annual reports. For a sample of European firms listed in the STOXX Europe-600 index and a reporting period of four years, we use textual analysis to assess both firms’ explicit reference to the SDGs in their annual reports as well as the implicit prevalence of SDG topics. In addition, we use content analysis to manually assess the quality of firms’ disclosure on the SDGs based on eleven reporting items. The results show a substantial increase in SDG reporting quality over time but a distinct lack of disclosure of quantitative and forward-looking information. Further analyses reveal the relevance of both financial and non-financial stakeholders. Specifically, SDG disclosure is particularly associated with a high relevance of socially responsible investors, customers or environment-related public pressure, while financial analysts, employees and the media are not associated with SDG disclosure.

摘要_

本研究检查了公司年度报告中关于可持续发展目标 (SDG) 的披露。对于在 STOXX Europe-600 指数中上市的欧洲公司样本和四年的报告期，我们使用文本分析来评估两家公司在其年度报告中明确提及可持续发展目标以及可持续发展目标主题的隐含流行度。此外，我们基于 11 个报告项目使用内容分析手动评估公司对可持续发展目标的披露质量。结果显示，随着时间的推移，可持续发展目标报告质量显着提高，但明显缺乏量化和前瞻性信息的披露。进一步的分析揭示了金融和非金融利益相关者的相关性。具体来说，可持续发展目标的披露与社会责任投资者的高度相关性尤其相关，