Alignment of Sustainable Development Goals and Environmental and Social Value Added as Sustainability Measurement Tools in Different Industries

For measuring sustainability, several different measurement systems are used on global and corporate levels, such as Sustainable Value Added (SUVA) or Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To simplify the implementation of global goals and targets into a corporate indicator in companies, we examined how the SDGs can be integrated into the key performance indicators Environmental Value Added (ENVA) and Social Value Added (SOVA) by examining ten companies in the food and automobile industries via a qualitative content analysis. The results show that several SDGs can be integrated into ENVA/SOVA. By comparing the food and automobile industries, we address both common SDG integrations and those specific to one sector or absent from both. Similar integrations can be found for four of the five main ENVA categories and in all five SOVA categories. In three of the five ENVA and two of the five SOVA categories, sub-categories referring only to the food industry are examined. In one of the five ENVA categories, a sub-category referring only to the automobile industry is mentioned. In two of the five ENVA and SOVA categories, no combinations of SDGs and ENVA/SOVA can be seen. This article contributes to research by explaining how SDGs can be integrated into SUVA and by highlighting industry-specific differences. It supports practice by showing how companies can use SUVA to align local metrics with goals and improve their sustainability strategies.