This SpringerBrief describes the development and use of a synthetic indicator to assess
different degrees of sustainability adoption by economic sector and businesses size. To make
this analysis a theoretical framework which involves variables common to alternative frameworks
(specifically ESG GRI and Istat) is proposed. The empirical analysis focuses on the
environmental social and economic variables of the Italian businesses. In this analysis all
three pillars of sustainability - economic environmental and social - are considered. The
work begins with a review of business sustainability literature and a look into institutional
frameworks for the development and measurement of the phenomena. Connections between businesses
and the SDGs are examined and comparison of the classifications of sustainable activities
defined by GRI and ESG international standards is used to define a framework to be adopted to
analyse ISTAT Business Census. Selected indicator variables are aggregated with a synthetic
indicator and the results are presented (this is a new proposal of a synthetic indicator useful
for the type of data used and published by ISTAT - Italian National Statistical Institute)
discussing pros and cons of using it. This study provides two important innovative
contributions. The first one is about how to approach the theoretical framework of businesses
sustainability at firms aggregated level. The basic idea to work on a set of variables common
to different approaches is interesting from the interpretative point of view. The second one
is about the specific empirical analysis i.e. the Italian businesses sustainability situation.
The investigation based on this new theoretical classification framework and the new proposed
indicator provides some interesting substantive results.
