Reporting Sustainable Development Goal 12 in the Spanish food retail industry. An analysis based on Global Reporting Initiative performance indicators

Abstract

Companies play a significant role in addressing the challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and sustainability reporting is a strategic tool for decision making and impact disclosure. This study assesses food retailers' contribution to SDG 12, its targets and its business themes as a way to examine their level of engagement with sustainable consumption and production (SCP). Specifically, we measure Spanish food retailing companies' SDG 12 disclosures under Global Reporting Initiative standards. To this end, we develop a scoring system based on the compulsory disclosure requirements. Our findings show that, in general terms, food retailers perform poorly in communicating their SDG 12 achievements. Companies mainly focus on internal actions aimed at decreasing environmental impact and disclose very few actions linked to the circular economy and responsible consumption. In terms of SCP, these findings suggest that food retailers are more committed to sustainable production than to enhancing sustainable consumption.