How effectively are Caribbean companies aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and what challenges do corporate boards encounter in sustainability reporting?
How effectively are Caribbean companies aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and what challenges do corporate boards encounter in sustainability reporting? These questions lie at the centre of a doctoral research project by Jéanelle Baron, a PhD student in the Faculty of Social Sciences at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, under the supervision of Professor Dwayne Devonish.
Her research, titled ‘Sustainable Development Goals Disclosure (SDGD) in Small Island Developing States (SIDS): Understanding the Challenges Boards Face with Disclosing the UN Sustainable Development Goals’, examines how publicly listed companies in the English-speaking Caribbean are responding to global sustainability expectations.
While SIDS are under-represented in international sustainability research, they face some of the world’s most pressing development challenges, including climate vulnerability, limited resources, and economic fragility.
Caribbean perspectives
This study brings Caribbean perspectives into a global conversation that has too often overlooked them.
Using a detailed analysis of annual reports from publicly listed companies between 2016 and 2024, the research investigates whether firms are meaningfully engaging with the SDGs or merely referencing them superficially.
The study assesses the depth and quality of SDG disclosures and identifies patterns in which goals receive the most attention, as well as those that are frequently neglected.
In the next phase of the research, interviews with members of the boards of directors will provide deeper insight into the institutional, strategic, and practical barriers that companies encounter when reporting on sustainability initiatives.
Strengthening engagement
The findings from this research have wide-ranging relevance. Academics can use the evidence to deepen understanding of sustainability reporting in the Caribbean and other SIDS, and regional representatives and ambassadors may draw on these insights to strengthen engagement in international sustainable development forums. Governments can also use the results to better understand the private sector’s contribution to the UN’s 2030 Agenda, helping to inform national policy and development planning.
Additionally, the research offers practical guidance for businesses, encouraging more meaningful, transparent and accountable engagement with sustainability goals.
This project demonstrates how postgraduate research at The University of the West Indies is advancing regional knowledge, informing policy conversations, and contributing Caribbean voices to global debates on sustainable development.
