TITLE:
A Theoretical Review of whether Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Complement Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Needs
AUTHORS:
Vikrant Kulkarni, Ashish Aggarwal
KEYWORDS:
Sustainable Development
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.12 No.2,
April
28,
2022
ABSTRACT: In 2015, of the world’s population, 10 percent lived
in extreme poverty, 11 percent was malnourished, 5 percent had no access to
basic healthcare, 20 percent lived in fragile settings, 35 percent of women had
experienced physical or sexual violence, 36
percent lacked basic sanitation facilities, and 15 percent lacked
electricity. The United Nations proposed to address these global issues through 17 Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) which were accepted by 193 member countries. These committed
countries are implementing the SDG agenda with all the available human,
financial and technical resources. A recent review of SDG implementation across
twenty six countries suggests that the progress is constrained by financial
resources, which is resulting in geographically fragmented implementation and lack
of integration amongst the goals. It has been reported that there is an annual
gap of USD 2.5 trillion for the
implementation of SDGs. As public resources, especially in developing countries, are already stretched, various
alternative resource mechanisms are being explored to address the
resource gap. The global community considers
businesses an important stakeholder in achieving the SDGs through their
resources and innovations. It has been argued that developmental activities and
funds under corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be leveraged towards this
objective. Institutional theory is a good early point indicator to study
business response to social and environmental needs. Stakeholder theory has a
perfect alignment with CSR philosophy to cater to multiple stakeholders. Social Contract theory and Political theory help study
“mandatory” nature of CSR that is being introduced over last decade in multiple
countries globally ranging from mandatory reporting to mandatory spending. In this context, businesses have a unique
opportunity to use SDGs as a framework for improving CSR engagement in
line with changing societal expectations.
Through impact assessment and a strategic sensitivity to global sustainable
development challenges, businesses may contribute to shared value creation,
enhance positive impact by poverty alleviation and betterment of livelihoods, health and education, and reduce negative
impacts like resource consumption, pollution, human rights violation
across all processes.