Multinational financial corporations and the sustainable development goals in developing countries

Abstract

Multinational financial corporations are key to sustainability by implementing practices disclosed through sustainability reports. This is where research has been focused, leaving a gap concerning their sustainability foci on developing countries. This article studies the largest financial corporations from developed and emerging countries identifying the SDGs on which they focus in developing countries, the evolution of their contributions and differences in the SDGs, and where their focus is in the developing world. The largest multinational financial corporations were selected, their sustainability reports assessed, and mixed methods conducted finding that the foci of those from developed countries vary across SDGs, countries of origin, impacted developing countries, and since the launch of the SDGs. Findings highlight the SDGs on which financial corporations focus, with those from developed countries implementing more practices than those from emerging economies, and that the contributions of multinational financial corporations have not affected the progress of the SDGs.

Keywords:

• multinational corporations
• financial sector
• SDGs
• developing countries
• sustainability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Athabasca University.