Obiettivi di sviluppo sostenibile (SDG)

By identifying where their operations, products and value chain create the largest impacts, committing to specific targets rather than whole goals, measuring against defined indicators, and embedding those commitments in procurement, capital allocation and remuneration. Target 12.6 also makes sustainability reporting itself a direct contribution, which is why a CSRD or GRI disclosure counts against the framework.

The SDGs are a goal framework describing what the world should achieve; ESG standards such as ESRS, GRI, SFDR and IFRS S1 and S2 are disclosure frameworks describing what an organisation must publish. They overlap heavily at datapoint level: a verified emissions figure serves ESRS E1, GRI 305, IFRS S2 and SDG indicator 13.2.2 simultaneously. The efficient approach is to collect each figure once and tag it against every framework that requires it.

Alignment normally follows five steps: prioritise the goals and targets that reflect genuine impacts, baseline current performance against defined indicators, set dated targets with named owners, embed those targets in operating decisions such as procurement and capital allocation, and report against every framework from a single set of figures. Prioritisation is most defensible when it draws on an existing double materiality assessment.

An SDG strategy is a documented plan setting out which Sustainable Development Goals and targets an organisation will contribute to, what it will change, how it will measure that change and how it will report progress. A credible one commits at target level rather than goal level, states base years and interim milestones, and assigns accountability to named executives.

It is a country-level plan that translates the 2030 Agenda into national priorities, policy measures and monitoring arrangements. Switzerland’s 2030 Sustainable Development Strategy is a current example, setting national focus areas against the same 17 goals. Countries report progress through Voluntary National Reviews at the UN High-Level Political Forum.

Because they are the only impact framework that governments, development banks, investors, rating agencies and corporate clients all recognise. That shared vocabulary is what allows a company disclosure, a fund prospectus and a national development plan to be compared against the same reference points, and it is why SDG alignment increasingly appears in procurement criteria and sustainable finance documentation.