Corporate Sustainability Reporting Practices in Indian Energy sector

Abstract

Purpose

Our study investigates the sustainability disclosures made by the energy sector companies in India and further map them with respect to sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Methodology

As sustainability reporting remains a voluntary exercise in the country, qualitative data from eighteen major energy analyzed based on publicly available sustainability reports. The disclosures on SDGs were then mapped with the type of sector, industry and company on the set of selected companies.

Findings

The paper proposes a novel criteria for assessing corporate sustainability and discusses the company’s contribution towards all the SDGs. These proposed criteria are applied for the analysis of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reports of eighteen major energy companies. The study reveals that the companies have scored lowest in SDG 10 (Reduced Inequality) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), whereas scored highest in SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) as compared to other disclosures.

Originality

Although the companies included in the sample are in different stages of sustainability reporting adoption, this study contributes to the understanding of disclosure practices in the energy sector. The paper also highlights gap areas to further strengthen the voluntary disclosure practices in the said sector.