Top Trends 2018

• Companies are gradually incorporating SDGs into their responsible business actions. Of the 218 companies studied, 60 companies have mapped their responsible business actions to SDGs. Nine of the top 10 companies mapped their goals to SDG.
• ENERGY – Renewable energy capacity and its utilization has geared up. While solar is the most preferred, biofuel picks up speed.
• WATER – Access to water and management of water resources continues to be a focus area for internal operations and CSR.
• WASTE – Initiatives to manage e-waste, municipal waste and plastic reuse & recycling showed an increasing trend.
• DATA – Customer data and its privacy become a material aspect in the operations of services companies. Companies typically place the accountability of maintaining confidentiality of customer data on their Board of Directors and Senior Management.
• SCORES AND RANKING – Tata Chemicals received the highest score. Scores have improved over last year. Responsibility reporting is ramping up. Manufacturing companies perform better than service companies. Public and private companies are narrowing the gap.
• CSR SPEND – Spending on CSR as well as the number of companies spending more than 2% has been rapidly increasing. Manufacturing companies spend more than service companies and private companies spend more than public companies. Companies tend to spend primarily on education and health.