SDGs: moving beyond SDG washing to create a management tool
Knowing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals is one thing. Knowing which SDG your company is actually contributing to is another, beyond just the icons displayed at the end of a report. Here is another way to use them.
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What are the SDGs?
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the 17 goals adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, with a target date of 2030. They cover environmental issues (climate, biodiversity, water), social issues (health, education, gender equality), and economic issues (decent work, innovation, reduced inequalities).
Unlike the ESRS standards of the CSRD, which are specific to each company, the SDGs describe global priorities that every organization can choose to align with its own sustainability strategy and ESG action plan.
The SDGs: a voluntary framework, not a CSRD requirement
The SDGs provide a voluntary reference framework, with no regulatory reporting obligation, widely used to communicate a sustainability strategy to investors, clients, and teams. The GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), another CSR reporting standard widely used, publishes its own official correspondence between its indicators and the SDGs ("Linking the SDGs and the GRI Standards"), which clearly shows that companies do not have to choose between reporting CSRD, ESG and SDGs: these frameworks can complement each other.
This lack of regulatory constraint partly explains the current use of the SDGs.
Many companies cite three or four SDGs deemed relevant, usually at the end of their sustainability report, without this choice stemming from a structured analysis or an explicit link to their material issues.
Why the SDGs often remain a communication exercise
This phenomenon has a name in ESG literature: "SDG washing," the display of sustainable development goals without proof of real contribution. According to the Survey of Sustainability Reporting 2024 by KPMG, conducted on 5,800 companies in 58 countries, 74% of large companies refer to the SDGs in their sustainability reporting.
However, only 12% take a balanced approach, meaning thatthey communicate their negative impacts just as much as their positive ones on the SDGs, compared to 10% in 2022.
The vast majority of companies that cite SDGs therefore only present their positive contributions.
This asymmetry masks a reality: the same activity can contribute positively to one SDG and negatively to another. Creating jobs supports SDG 8 (decent work), while potentially weighing on SDG 13 (climate) depending on the sector. Ignoring this tension means obscuring half the picture.
An SDG displayed without a link to a specific issue, target, or action remains a statement of intent. It does not allow for verifying whether the company is making progress toward that goal, nor does it justify the choice of that SDG over another. This disconnection between SDG reporting and operational CSR management limits their utility beyond mere communication.
The SDG Compass, developed in 2015 by the GRI, the UN Global Compact, and the WBCSD, has long offered a five-step method for prioritizing SDGs based on materiality:
- Understanding the SDGs,
- Defining priorities,
- Setting goals,
- Integrating into strategy,
- Reporting.
The method exists. What many companies lack is a tool to implement it and maintain it over time as their issues, targets, and actions evolve.
Connecting SDGs to strategy, not just reporting
In Harnest, an ESG management tool, the Sustainable Development Goals are directly linked to strategic pillars and sustainability issues: each strategic pillar can be associated with one or more SDGs, just as with every issue identified by the company.
This association gains meaning through the Strategic Alignment section, which connects a pillar (and its initiatives) to the related actions, indicators, targets, and issues. An SDG thus inherits the network of relationships built around the strategic pillar or issue it is associated with, rather than remaining a standalone label.
What this means for ESG and CSR professionals
For a company, this means being able to identify the relevant SDGs for a given issue or strategic pillar, and then finding the actions taken and the indicators measuring their progress. Contribution to an SDG becomes traceable: it is based on ESG actions that are tracked and data that is measured, rather than on a one-off statement.
This approach also changes how priority SDGs are selected. An SDG associated with several material issues and ongoing actions represents a better-supported priority than a choice based on communication preferences.
Let's look at an example. A company identifies professional training as a material issue, links it to SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 8 (Decent Work), and then initiates an action to roll out an internal training program, tracked by an indicator measuring the number of training hours per employee. In Harnest, this entire journey, from the issue to the indicator, remains visible and dated.
The company can then demonstrate its contribution to SDG 4 with evidence, not just intent.