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Figure 1: Sustainable development goals

Source: United Nations, 2021

SDGs focus on key areas of society-wide problems such as poverty, social inequality, water
pollution, climate change or military conflicts that have emerged as a result of industrial and
economic development without consideration to the environment or social externalities (United
Nations, 2019; Hummels & Argyrou, 2020).

Each of these goals is analyzed in greater detail in the following modules.

The ESG approach and the 4 pillars of SDGs

The ESG strategy shows how it is possible to suitably integrate the elements of sustainability into
an organization’s operation. The abbreviation ESG comes from the first letters of the areas in
question (World Economic Forum, 2020):

• Environmental, which deals with the role of society in the protection of the planet (e.g.
greenhouse gas emissions, soil protection, use of water, biodiversity, etc.).

• Social, which deals with the responsibility of organizations towards their employees
(e.g. a safe work environment, wage equality, diversity, etc.).

• Governance, which deals with the responsible management of organizations (e.g.
ethical codex or the fight against corruption).

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