Western Balkans energy companies make 33 pledges towards UN Sustainable Development Goals 1-5

• 14 energy companies in 6 countries made 15 pledges towards SDG 4 (Quality Education)
• Only one pledge towards UN SDG 1 (No Poverty), none towards UN SDG 2 (Zero Hunger)
• Regional energy SDG champions: Borzen for SDG 1, INA for SDGs 3 & 5 and NIS for SDG 4.

Belgrade, Serbia –Beyond Brundtland has launched the first follow-up in-depth report on SDGs 1-5, as part of its Energy Industry Sustainability - Western Balkans 2019 report, the first region-wide survey of energy industry alignment with 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Beyond Brundtland classified and examined the individual alignment of 14 energy companies in six Western Balkan nations (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia) with UN SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

• No Poverty (SDG 1): The poverty situation in the Western Balkans is serious, although extreme poverty remains low. The study established that Slovenia’s market operator Borzen is the regional SDG 1 champion, as Borzen is the only company that made any time-dependent pledges towards the No Poverty goal (SDG 1). The remaining 13 companies have made no pledges towards this goal.

• Zero Hunger (SDG 2): The prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) in the Western Balkans region in 2015-17 was the highest in Serbia (5.6%), Albania (5.5%) and North Macedonia (4.1%), according to a recent FAO report. However, Beyond Brundtland discovered that not a single company made a time-dependent pledge towards the Zero Hunger goal (SDG 2).

• Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3): The Western Balkans (excluding EU member states Slovenia and Croatia), are characterized by inefficient health systems that are not able to cope with the rise of noncommunicable diseases. Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3) is the 6th most committed against SDG for the Western Balkans energy industry. The report identified 9 specific time-dependent commitments towards this goal and Croatia’s oil & gas company Industrija Nafte (INA) came out in front as the regional SDG 3 champion.

• Quality Education (SDG 4): Labour in the Western Balkans region often lacks hard skills and soft skills, industry knowledge and practical experience. Fortunately, industry pledges towards the UN’s Quality Education goal (SDG 4) are numerous. Three Slovenian (HSE, Borzen and Elektro Ljubljana), two Croatian (HEP and INA) and one Serbian company (NIS) have jointly pledged €3.38 million towards Goal 4: Quality Education. Serbia’s oil company (NIS) topped the competition as the regional SDG 4 champion.

• Gender Equality (SDG 5): In many countries of the Western Balkans, gender-based violence has been recognized as one of the most pressing gender equality issues, while other types of discrimination are also very present. Some 5% of the energy industry’s pledges are geared towards Goal 5: Gender Equality. With four specific time-dependent pledges, Croatia’s oil & gas company Industrija Nafte (INA) again came out in front as the regional SDG 5 champion.

The analysis is based on the corporate annual reports and corporate sustainability reports for 2017, and press releases covering that period. A preliminary analysis of 28 companies in eight Western Balkans countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia) resulted in the compilation of the 160 time-dependent sustainability commitments by 14 companies in 6 countries (all aforementioned markets, except Kosovo and Albania).

The scope of the report includes companies from the region’s crude oil & natural gas sector, electricity transmission, production and distribution companies, as well as electricity market operators.

The in-depth report on SDGs 1-5 comes in the wake of the first overview report on Energy Industry Sustainability - Western Balkans 2019 that was Recently published, Beyond Brundtland plans to publish in quick succession three more in-depth reports on the energy industry’s specific commitments towards SDGs 6-9, SDGs 10-13 and SDGs 14-17.

“This is the first in-depth report on the relationship between the main players in the Western Balkans energy industry towards the UN SDGs and it has revealed a treasure-trove of information. We now know that more than one billion euros has been pledged collectively. Yet, it was surprising to find that the average deadline for these pledges was very short, which indicates there is a lot of room for more ambitious goal setting and targets in the future”.

Beyond Brundtland is a Belgrade-based online analytical platform for evaluating industry alignment with the 17 UN SDGs based on corporate pledges.

More information about the findings from this report can be found on Beyond Brundtland’s website at: https://www.beyondbrundtland.com

Attached images:

1. Report cover page, In-depth report on SDGs 1-5, Energy Industry Sustainability - Western Balkans 2019: http://bit.ly/InDepthReportSDGs1-5CoverPage
2. Screenshot report page 21, company pledges towards SDG 3, Good Health and Well-Being: http://bit.ly/2wBrF0U
3. Screenshot report page 35, recommendations towards SDG 5, Gender Equality: http://bit.ly/2Xk5Dvo

Beyond Brundtland is a Belgrade-based analytical company focused on assessing corporate compliance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Beyond Brundtland

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