Sustainability assessment & reporting in agriculture sector

Abstract

Sustainability assessment is a mainstream business activity that demonstrates the link between the organization's strategy and commitment to a sustainable global economy. Sustainability indicators describe the environmental, social, economic and governance performance of Small and Medium-sized Businesses/Enterprises (SMB/SME). Unfortunately, their implementations in the Czech Republic show a low level of engagement in sustainability assessment. The paper presents the results of the authors' research in sustainability assessment of SMB/SMEs in the agriculture sector of the Czech Republic. An appropriate set of key performance indicators (KPIs) in four dimensions (economy, environment, social and governance) was developed to suit the SMB/ SMEs sustainability assessment in the agriculture sector. A set of KPIs is proposed to help SMB/SMEs to avoid the barriers of sustainability assessment. These indicators are based mainly on Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture, Global Reporting Initiatives Frameworks and on current research state-of-the-art. They have been created following the analysis of a number of agricultural enterprises over the world, particularly within European countries.