A abordagem da União Europeia para os objetivos de desenvolvimento sustentável: considerações acerca do (não) papel das pequenas e médias empresas

Abstract

This article seeks to clarify the central and constitutive aspects of the approach that the Euro-pean Union (EU) has established for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), considering the extent to which this same approach (does not) assume a role for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Going through the centrality that the idea of localization and territorializa-tion acquires in terms of implementing the agenda in question, the article problematizes the lack of concern expressed for SMEs in this strategy, especially the one from the United Nations (UN), verifying a certain mirroring of this same gap in the approach designed by the EU. Exploring Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (PCSD), adopted by the EU, the article identifies the centrality of the role played by governments (at their different levels) and civil society, as well as the lateralization of companies, especially SMEs. It is worth noting that the article does not reveal the absence of an EU approach to this profile of companies, which is so relevant due to its massive presence in the European business landscape, but rather an approach to the SDGs unable to include these stakeholders. The article then anchors this absence of SMEs in the perceived spatial shift brought about by the UN-based SDG, since both the ideas of loca-lization and territorialization do not evidentiate a spatial (and special) importance for SMEs. In this way, the article points out that it is much more through their practices, which deserve to be surveyed and analyzed, that European SMEs can be considered important stakeholders in this process of localization, territorialization and, therefore, micro-spatialization of the SDGs. Even if not through the available approach for the SDG agenda, but because of the identification of practices, especially collective actions by SMEs -which are sometimes scattered -it is possible to rearticulate their role in the life cycle of the 2030 Agenda. Mainly through collaborative strategies, in particular supported by the concept of networks, an important research agenda is acknowledging SMEs' role in the implementation of the SDGs. Faced with quite fragile results in terms of meeting the targets set out in each SDG from 2015 to 2023, the second half of the life cycle of the Agenda in question should be geared towards ensuring that stakeholders capa-ble of collaborating in achieving the targets through their practice(s) are given the means to do so. The encounter between studies in the disciplinary field of International Relations,especially those interested in the role of international institutions in a global local continuum, and studies related to Business Management, especially those concerned with sustainability, offers fertile methodological avenues to point to a business oriented role, mainly of SMES, in localizing SDGs.