If the EU wants to take sustainable development seriously, its institutions and agencies should report annually on the implementation of sustainable development goals (SDG) through sustainability reports, which are currently largely lacking, says the Court of Auditors in a report published on Wednesday 12 June.
Through sustainable development reporting - also known as corporate social responsibility or non-financial reporting - an organization publishes information on its economic, environmental and social impact. A sustainable development report also presents a company’s values and governance model, as well as the link between its strategy and its commitment to a sustainable global economy. “It should be used by policy makers, businesses, consumers. Citizens want and need reliable information on how the EU contributes to sustainable development in areas such as climate change”, Eva Lindström, who is responsible for the report, told the press.
The Court of Auditors has analysed the situation at the level of the EU institutions and 41 European agencies. The assessment is severe.
Despite the commitment of the EU and its Member States to implement the universal sustainable development goals adopted by the UN in September 2015, the European Commission does not present any report on sustainability, nor does it verify how the EU budget and EU policies contribute to Agenda 2030 and the achievement of the 17 SDGs, the Court states.
This is not surprising, since the Commission is not legally required to do so and has never presented a strategy for implementing the SDGs, with objectives and targets, as requested by the European Parliament and the EU Council.
Instead, it published a reflection paper for a sustainable Europe. “It is neither a strategy nor a sustainability report. This paper does not include any gap analysis to indicate what more needs to be done in terms of budget, policy and legislation”, said Eva Lindström.
While Eurostat does publish statistics and trends based on the SDGs, it does not analyse the contribution of the EU budget or EU policies to the SDGs (see EUROPE 11379/3).
According to the Court, the elements for a meaningful sustainable development report at the EU level are, to a large extent, not yet in place. The Commission has not yet included sustainable development into reporting on performance, in particular due to the lack of a European strategy for sustainable development by 2030.
Only the European Investment Bank and the EU Intellectual Property Office currently publish, on their own initiative, a report on sustainable development, while reports from other institutions and agencies are incomplete, focusing only on the internal situation (e.g. paper or electricity consumption).
Looking ahead, the Court recommends: - developing a post-2020 strategy to cover the 2030 agenda on sustainable development; - integrating the SDGs into the EU budget and performance framework; - developing sustainable development reporting in EU institutions and agencies; - increasing the credibility of reports through audit, “which will avoid greenwashing”, Lindström said.
In the EU, Directive 2014/95/EU on non-financial reporting requires certain large companies and groups to report on sustainability. Under this general legislation, companies must report risks for non-financial issues, but are not required to take the SDGs into account. “This process has been driven by the private sector. In the public sector, we have taken sustainability for granted”, says Eva Lindström.
In some Member States, large companies did not wait for the Directive to act, as pressure from the financial markets served as a stimulus, added a member of the Court. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)