A business prioritisation of the sustainable development goals indicators: Building bridges between academics and practitioners in the Spanish case

• Published in: Environmental development 2023-06, Vol.46, p.100827, Article 100827
• Main Authors: Suárez-Serrano, Eugenia, González-Torre, Pilar L., Covián-Regales, Enrique
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 2030 agenda; Analytic hierarchy; Business indicators; SDG; Spain; Sustainability dimensions
• ISSN: 2211-4645; 2211-4653
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envdev.2023.100827

Taking as a starting point the 232 indicators associated with the 2030 Agenda, the purpose of this research work is to select the indicators that best assess and measure the contribution of companies to the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). To this end, on the one hand, through the identification and consultation of a group of Spanish experts, academics and professionals, the Delphi technique is applied to select the best indicators. On the other hand, the need to establish a weighting method for the 19 proposed indicators is addressed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The study discards by a consensus of numerous indicators that do not fit or are superfluous for companies and, from a managerial perspective, the ranking can be useful for companies to identify priorities for urgent action and detect gaps that must be addressed to achieve the SDGs related to all the sustainability dimensions. Finally, to assess the applicability of the proposed indicators, a company was asked to fulfil them, and the results are presented. •Research on the suitability of tools to measure company sustainability is scarce.•Companies have a relevant contribution to the SDGs that must be measured and tested.•Delphi techniques reduce by consensus the number of SDG indicators for companies.•AHP methods allow ranking the most suitable indicators for companies.•Indicators should reflect multidimensional and multi-stakeholder nature of SDGs.