Sustainable Development Goals Disclosure among Top 25 Listed Companies in Kenya

Abstract

The paper aimed to examine the extent of Sustainable Development Goals disclosure by the top 25 listed companies in Kenya (NSE25) based on the global sustainability reporting indicators by UNCTAD’s Guidance on Core Indicators (GCI) framework. Based on UNCTAD's Guidance on core indicators for entity reporting on contribution to SDG implementation (GCI) framework, the paper evaluated the extent of SDG disclosure by the top twenty-five (NSE25) listed companies in Kenya in four broad areas of sustainability, namely economic (8 indicators), environmental (11 indicators), social (7 indicators), and the institutional regions (7 indicators). The 2019/2020 annual, integrated and sustainability reports of 25 major firms listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange were analysed and coded using a content analysis technique. The findings provided strong evidence that NSE 25 corporations are committed to sustainable development agenda based on the extent of the disclosure of corporate activities related to the UN SDGs, with an overall GCI score of 0.77. The economic area had the highest total GCI score at 0.94; the institutional area had the second-highest GCI score of 0.82. The social area' with a GCI Index of 0.72, was placed third, and the environmental area at 0.65. Enterprises are critical to achieving the SDGs. Hence SDG disclosure requires extensive research to identify the factors that impact it. This research contributes to the legitimacy theory by evaluating the extent of SDG disclosure by listed firms. However, the study only focuses on how the top 25 Kenyan listed corporations reveal SGD-related information; care should be given when drawing generalisations about other companies. The outcomes of this research advocate for explicit commitment and a concerted effort for SDG implementation from African business organisations. SDGs cannot be achieved just by governments; corporations must also play a significant role. The study underlines the importance of corporates adopting sustainability initiatives and including SDG information within their business reporting cycle. The results of this study contribute to the understanding of SDG reporting in Kenya and other developing economies, as it provides policy implications for corporations, governments, policymakers and agencies in terms of regulation, awareness, and capacity development relevant to sustainability reporting. The UNCTAD GCI framework is a novel approach to sustainability disclosure research. It expands knowledge of sustainability disclosure, corporate reporting, and SDG studies in Kenya and other developing countries. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is among the first to provide in-depth empirical evidence on the status of SDG disclosure among listed firms in Kenya. Furthermore, this research provided valuable information on the role of corporations in achieving sustainable development goals in response to earlier research gaps identified.