From Global Goals and Planetary Boundaries to Public Governance—A Framework for Prioritizing Organizational Sustainability Activities

Abstract

Background: A particular challenge in the work to realize the global goals for sustainable development is to find ways for organizations to identify and prioritize organizational activities that address these goals. There are also several sustainability initiatives, guidelines and tools to consider when planning, working with and reporting on sustainable development. Although progress has been made, little has been written about how organizations rise to and manage the challenge. The paper explores how organizations address sustainable development, which sustainability aspects they prioritize and whether previous research can improve the priority process by using materiality analysis approach. Methods: A case study approach was chosen. Data was collected by interactive workshops and documentation. The participating organizations were two Swedish municipalities; Results: The municipalities have introduced a number of sustainability aspects into their organizational governance, especially in terms of society, human rights and the environment. A materiality analysis was conducted to determine the relevance and significance of sustainability aspects. The result shows that climate action, biodiversity and freshwater use are aspects that should be prioritized; Conclusion: The materiality analysis methodology chosen for prioritizing of sustainability aspects was useful and easy to work with. However, the sustainability aspect matrix and the risk assessment have to be updated regularly in order to form an effective base for the materiality analysis.

Sustainable Development and European Banks: A Non-Financial Disclosure Analysis

“…Ranängen et al [50] show that two Swedish municipalities have introduced several aspects of sustainability in their governance, especially in terms of society, human rights, and the environment. By using materiality analysis, the authors highlight that the use of fresh water (SDGs 6), the action for the climate (SDG 13), and biodiversity (SDGs 14,15) seem to be the most important SDGs.…”

Introducing an Organizational Perspective in SDG Implementation in the Public Sector in Spain: The Case of the Former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Environment

“…Over the last decades, case studies have been used extensively in multiple fields, including organizational theory [68], strategy and decision science [69] and, most importantly for this work, sustainability [70][71][72]. In particular, case studies have been used in previous works that explore the prioritization process of sustainability aspects within organizations [10,11,73]. Case studies can be used for descriptive purposes, as it is the case in our paper, but they can also play an important role in theory testing and building [74].…”

“…The public sector needs to coordinate vertically and horizontally in a multilevel governance, and to be open to participation of stakeholders, to ensure policy coherence and provide integral responses to the SDGs [45,47]. Specifically, public organizations play an important role translating global aspirations embedded in the SDGs to national contexts, acting as a model of adoption of the SDGs into their strategies and focusing on the common good [11].…”

Advancing the Role of Food Processing for Improved Integration in Sustainable Food Chains

“…It might be expected that a similar approach may be considered for defining the safe operating spaces for sustainable food processing that minimize use of resources, consider recycling of inputs for processing (e.g., water, energy), and reduces waste. Implementing transformative sustainability solutions based on advances in science and technology also requires consideration of social and cultural acceptance of changes proposed (77), gaining consumer trust and the development of an appropriate organizational governance framework for prioritizing sustainability initiatives, which takes into consideration the water-energy-food nexus (78,79).…”