Sustainability Reporting : Driving Change Towards a Greener Future in Qatar

As the world implements drastic measures to achieve the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), the corporate sectors across countries have initiated measures to optimise strategies towards a greener future. Qatar is among the countries that have taken bold steps towards realising sustainability goals in a bid to achieve its vision 2030. The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) has taken a leading role in challenging large corporations to adopt sustainability reporting towards achieving carbon neutrality in the future. The present study attempts to bridge the knowledge gap established in the existing research, which predominantly addresses sustainability reporting from the corporate perspective, neglecting the environmental social governance (ESG) priorities. Also, by focusing on the Qatari context, the study aims to create specific information that helps guide policy formulation and decision-making in regard to the country’s vision 2030. Through secondary data analysis, the study explores the extent to which the current sustainability reporting standards would enable Qatar achieve its goal of a greener economy in 2030 and beyond. An evaluation of the current reporting policies and practices among chosen QSE-listed firms helps determine the strengths and weaknesses in order to determine whether such priorities are effective. Notably, the study discovers potential gaps between policy and practice in the Qatar context. It is on this basis that various recommendations for best practices are suggested in view of the country’s four-pillar Vision 2030. A few limitations are identified, which future researchers should address in order to generate better findings that can help address the identified gaps in the implementation of sustainability reporting for a greener future in Qatar.