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The study examined voluntary disclosure of contributions towards SDG-6 achievement by premium board companies in the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It employed a qualitative research design in which data were collected from the sustainability/annual reports of these companies and subjected to content analysis. The analysis shows overall poor quality as the disclosures are not linked to indicators that can help measure the extent of meeting the UN set target for SDG-6. Two tangible indicators disclosed are water use efficiency and construction of boreholes. However, there is no disclosure of the proportion of the population that gained access to clean water through these initiatives. Similarly, poor quality exists when compliance with GRI-303 on water information disclosure was assessed. The motivation behind the disclosures points to a continuation of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The objective is to gain a social licence to operate, and legitimation as opposed to signalling superior SDG-6 performance.

The importance of knowledge regarding the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is universally recognized, but less commonly actualized in health professional curricula. This chapter examines how SDG awareness has been embedded into curricula and extra-curricula activity in four different University settings: The University of Melbourne (Australia); Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mexico); Lund University (Sweden); and the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom). It is informed by the work of academics representing single health disciplines from the four universities. All academics are actively involved with the Universitas 21 Health Science Group (U21HSG) SDG strategic group. The chapter will outline shared and unique projects that are directed at increasing students awareness for targeted action to achieve the global goals.

With a crowded curriculum, lack of SDG expertise and a belief that health professional learning should focus on a single goal (Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages), there are significant challenges to growing SDG relevant knowledge and skills within existing programs. We provide examples of how these challenges were met, such as through the development of SDG learning outcomes to fit within a physiotherapy curriculum renewal and the running and management of service learning refugee clinics by medical students. We will briefly examine our key learning and make recommendations on providing SDG relevant learning opportunities for students. The chapter will provoke and challenge the reader to consider how they are addressing the sustainability goals and how they can overcome perceived barriers to educating students for a sustainable world.

We applied a true-experimental randomized control posttest design to collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to compare the effects of the AR and traditional board games on students’ SDG learning achievements.

We applied a true-experimental randomized control posttest design to collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to compare the effects of AR and traditional board games on students' SDG learning achievements.

Our analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data revealed that the effects of AR and traditional board games on the students' cognitive outcomes differed significantly, indicating the importance of providing a situated learning environment in SDG education. Moreover, the students perceived that the incorporation of the AR game into SDG learning improved their learning effectiveness – including both cognitive and affective dimensions – thus confirming its educational value and potential in SDG learning.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the effectiveness of different learning tools (AR and traditional board games) and to evaluate the importance of providing a situated learning environment through a true-experimental randomized control posttest design.

Sustainability development goals (SDGs) cannot be achieved without a concerted effort from businesses and other organisations, being the corporate level is one of the keys to the achievement of SDGs. This study aims to explore the relationship between firms' adoption of SDG reporting in China and two main corporate-level factors, namely, board characteristics and ownership factors. Also, this study aims to determine which set of drivers – those related to board or ownership factors – exerts a greater influence on this reporting.

This research examines the impact of ownership and board-level factors on the SDG reporting of Chinese firms in the period 2016–2018, with a final sample of 455 firm-year observations operating in 11 activity sectors.

The results support the following: firstly, that board independence and size and the existence of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee favours firms addressing SDGs in their sustainability reporting while greater levels of foreign or institutional ownership are negatively related to a company's adoption of SDG reporting; secondly, two-stage logit regression results revealed that board-level factors exert greater explanatory power in the prediction of this reporting and have bigger weights in affecting the SDGs reporting.

This study focuses on assessing the drivers of SDGs; namely, what internal factors will facilitate companies' better implementation of SDG reporting to bridge the gap in this field, not only extending the investigation of corporate governance factors affecting SDGs but also examining the impact of corporate ownership on SDG reporting.

This study enriches and provides support for previous studies examining the drivers of SDGs in the private sector. In academia, addressing SDGs in business is still an emerging research stream that is still in an embryonic state; the reporting of SDGs in business is quite under-investigated in the sustainability literature. Moreover, literature on the drivers that promote better implementation of SDGs in business is even more scarce and incomplete. Some previous studies have ignored the impact of board size and the CSR committee. At the same time, there is no research to date on the impact of ownership on companies' SDGs reporting, which has been proved to play a large role in firms sustainability reporting.

Higher education plays an essential role in achieving the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, there are only scattered studies on monitoring how universities promote SDGs through their curriculum. The purpose of this study is to investigate the connection of existing common core courses in a university to SDG education. In particular, this study wanted to know how common core courses can be classified by machine-learning approach according to SDGs.

In this report, the authors used machine learning techniques to tag the 166 common core courses in a university with SDGs and then analyzed the results based on visualizations. The training data set comes from the OSDG public community data set which the community had verified. Meanwhile, key descriptions of common core courses had been used for the classification. The study used the multinomial logistic regression algorithm for the classification. Descriptive analysis at course-level, theme-level and curriculum-level had been included to illustrate the proposed approach’s functions.

The results indicate that the machine-learning classification approach can significantly accelerate the SDG classification of courses. However, currently, it cannot replace human classification due to the complexity of the problem and the lack of relevant training data.

The study can achieve a more accurate model training through adopting advanced machine learning algorithms (e.g. deep learning, multioutput multiclass machine learning algorithms); developing a more effective test data set by extracting more relevant information from syllabus and learning materials; expanding the training data set of SDGs that currently have insufficient records (e.g. SDG 12); and replacing the existing training data set from OSDG by authentic education-related documents (such as course syllabus) with SDG classifications. The performance of the algorithm should also be compared to other computer-based and human-based SDG classification approaches for cross-checking the results, with a systematic evaluation framework. Furthermore, the study can be analyzed by circulating results to students and understanding how they would interpret and use the results for choosing courses for studying. Furthermore, the study mainly focused on the classification of topics that are taught in courses but cannot measure the effectiveness of adopted pedagogies, assessment strategies and competency development strategies in courses. The study can also conduct analysis based on assessment tasks and rubrics of courses to see whether the assessment tasks can help students understand and take action on SDGs.

The proposed approach explores the possibility of using machine learning for SDG classifications in scale.

This paper aims to evaluate the progress made in achieving sustainable development goal-2 (SDG 2) in India, with a focus on ending hunger, ensuring food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture. The assessment uses data from SDG Index reports, which offer a comprehensive overview of the advancements made by 28 states and 8 union territories (UTs) in India.

The evaluation is based on information derived from three editions of the SDG Index reports, initially published in 2018 and subsequently in 2019 and 2020. These reports provide a detailed analysis of the status and achievements of different states and UTs in relation to SDG 2. The categorization of states and UTs into aspirant, performer, front runner and achiever categories serves as a crucial framework for assessing the progress.

Despite concerted efforts by India, the majority of states and UTs are positioned in the aspirant and performer categories, suggesting that significant challenges persist in achieving SDG 2 targets. The results emphasize the necessity for stronger measures to elevate states and UTs to the categories of front-runners and achievers. The persistent challenges of malnutrition, hunger and their economic ramifications require immediate and strategic interventions to address these pressing concerns.

This paper contributes to the existing literature by providing a comprehensive analysis of the progress towards SDG 2 in India, using the insights from the SDG Index reports. The categorization framework used in this assessment offers a nuanced understanding of the challenges faced by different regions, highlighting the original contribution of this study. The findings underscore the urgency of targeted efforts to address malnutrition, hunger and related issues, emphasizing the importance of sustained commitment to achieving SDG 2 for the overall well-being of vulnerable populations.

The purpose of this study is to examine the existence of greenwashing and sustainable development goal (SDG)-washing processes by comparing ex ante (SDG Compass) and ex post (SDG Compliance) indicators and investigating whether the limitations associated with these indicators encourage companies to engage in washing processes.

The authors use a sample of 1,154 companies included in the S&P Sustainability Yearbook (formerly the RobecoSAM Yearbook). The authors test for the presence of greenwashing by comparing ex ante and ex post indicators for each SDG, whereas to test for SDG-washing, the authors compare the two ex ante and ex post approaches considering the full set of SDGs.

The results show that there is no consistency between the two types of indicators to measure the level of SDG implementation in organisations. This lack of consistency may facilitate both greenwashing and SDG-washing processes, which is due to the design and limitations of these measurement tools.

Companies may choose those indicators that paint their commitment to the SDGs in the best light, but they may also select indicators based on the SDGs they want to report on. These two options would combine greenwashing and SDG-washing.

The shift towards improved standards and regulations for measuring SDG achievement is the result of several social factors such as investor scrutiny, regulatory reform, consumer awareness and increased corporate accountability.

Few previous studies have analysed in detail the interaction between greenwashing and SDG-washing. They focus on the use of ex ante or ex post indicators separately, with samples composed of local companies, and without considering the whole set of SDGs.

This study examines whether engagement with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-focused specialized training programs enable senior public officials (focal actor) to collectively deliver on public services that have a transformational societal impact over time. Further, the study explores the factors that impede and facilitate the delivery of such services. The authors do so by using service mechanics theorization and drawing on the lens of actor and collective engagement.

This study undertakes a longitudinal exploratory qualitative study design. SDG-focused training programs were delivered, as interventions, for two cohorts of senior public officials from Bangladesh in an Australian University in 2017 and 2019. In-depth interviews were conducted upon the training's completion and then after 8- and 12-month intervals to assess the short- and long-term impact respectively.

An empirical framework is proposed from the study findings. It shows that engagement – cognitive, emotional and behavioral – with SDG-focused specialized training programs enables focal actors (i.e. senior public officials) to engage other actors (other public officials, community members) in networks, facilitated the delivery of SDG-aligned public services. Such engagement results in a transformative impact that spans micro (individual), meso (organizational) and macro (societal) levels over time. Factors that impede and facilitate SDG-aligned delivery of public services are also identified.

Theoretically, the authors contribute to the literature that relates to actor and collective engagement, SDG-focused capacity-building training programs and service mechanics. Practically, this study informs organizations about the ways that they can effectively engage their senior employees with capacity-building training programs that focus on sustainability.

This study is one of the few that connects the interface between public service delivery for enacting societal changes and SDG-focused capacity-building training programs through service mechanics theorization and using the lens of actor and collective engagement.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how effectively leading sustainable hotels have integrated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their reporting. The main aim is to pinpoint areas for improvement concerning SDG reporting which can help the hospitality industry to achieve a transformation in a more SDG-aligned global tourism system.

For this study, a content analysis technique was used to extract the information regarding strategic consistency of SDG reporting. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were applied to the analysis of this information. This paper seeks to assess the extent to which the materiality analysis, corporate targets and performance indicators defined by the world’s top sustainable hotels in their sustainability reports are consistent with those SDGs linked to the business. To that end, the authors have selected the most sustainable hotels according to the SAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment in 2020.

The results of this study show that the most sustainable hotel companies did not take a strategic consistency approach when reporting the SDGs. These findings identify four areas for improvement concerning reporting, which may promote the adoption of a strategic and consistent approach in SDG reporting.

This study includes a set of recommendations to provide the market with complete, coherent and comparable information on their contribution to the SDGs and, therefore, foster collective learning to bring about sustainable tourism transformation.

This paper represents a contribution to the discussion on the strategic or symbolic implementation of SDGs at a corporate level. In addition, this paper reflects a deeper understanding of how hotel companies could improve their reporting and management system to contribute to SDGs.

This paper aims to present an approach for business organizations, especially multinational enterprises (MNEs), to pivot their focus from the United Nations sustainable development goals (UN SDGs) to simple doable goals (SDoGs) so that the probability of impactful and sustainable outcomes increases significantly.

Through multilevel analyses, the paper identifies the current challenges in the firm-level implementation of the SDGs. Consequently, it synthesizes an integrated solution that can help MNEs create sustainable business models, contributing to realizing the SDGs.

The sporadic and chaotic adoption of SDGs and ambiguous outcomes reported by businesses are due to the following: SDG adoption choices are driven by the materiality effect; the differences between the UN-defined government targets and business-level targets, often chosen by businesses on their own, make an aggregation of performances infeasible; lack of validation of the firm-level reporting leads to “greenwashing”; focusing less on business model transformation and more on reporting hinders the achievement of true sustainability; and lack of coordination and integration in actionizing among stakeholders limits the holistic change that the SDGs are expected to bring to society. Based on the Prêt à faire – Gestalt matrix, the proposed framework shifts the organization’s focus to the fundamental aspects of the purpose, strategy and business sustainability, and demonstrates how the resultant SDoGs effectively contribute to the realization of the SDGs. The matrix in the framework classifies an MNE based on its overall organizational readiness to seize business opportunities and helps pursue a course of action toward true sustainability.

The guidelines from the proposed framework offer different strategic paths for the MNE to achieve parity, temporary advantage, and, finally, sustained competitive advantage. This transformative approach enables businesses to develop their roadmaps for achieving business sustainability and supporting the realization of the SDGs.