Impact of Country-level Environmental, Social and Governance Pillars on Sustainable Development Goals: Evidence from G20 Countries

Abstract

Due to current economic ambiguities, achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has become increasingly significant. This study investigates how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) indicators impact SDG achievements in G20 countries. The study uses renewable energy consumption as the environmental pillar, primary education as the social pillar, and governance effectiveness as the governance pillar. Control variables include gross domestic product and foreign direct investments. The random effect estimation was applied to 16 G20 countries spanning from 2000 to 2020, and the findings revealed a significant negative impact of renewable energy consumption on SDG scores. Similarly, a significant negative impact of primary education on SDG scores and a significant positive impact of governance effectiveness on SDG scores. We also employed Panel-Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) and Cross-Sectional Time-Series FGLS Regression to check the robustness of the results. The study offers valuable insights for policymakers and regulators focused on SDG achievement.