Abstract

General Background: Sustainability has become a critical focus in corporate governance, influencing business policies and operational strategies worldwide. In developing economies like Iraq, integrating sustainability remains challenging due to regulatory limitations, financial constraints, and infrastructural barriers. Specific Background: The oil and gas, agriculture, and manufacturing sectors are pivotal to Iraq’s economy, yet they exhibit varying degrees of sustainability adoption. While multinational corporations demonstrate advanced sustainability practices, local firms struggle with compliance and resource limitations. Knowledge Gap: Existing research on corporate sustainability in Iraq remains scarce, particularly regarding sectoral differences and the influence of international firms in shaping sustainability standards. Aims: This study analyzes the effects of sustainability policies on companies in Iraq, comparing local and multinational firms across key industries to assess their sustainability practices, challenges, and compliance levels. Results: Findings indicate that multinational corporations lead in sustainability implementation, particularly in energy efficiency and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Local companies face regulatory and financial constraints but are progressively integrating CSR initiatives. Compared to the broader Middle East, Iraqi firms exhibit lower sustainability adoption due to weaker regulations and reduced public scrutiny. Employees in multinational firms report higher engagement with sustainability policies than those in local firms. Novelty: This study provides a comparative analysis of sustainability practices in Iraq and the Middle East, highlighting disparities in renewable energy usage, CSR initiatives, and employee perceptions. It also identifies barriers hindering local companies from adopting sustainable practices. Implications: Strengthening environmental regulations, increasing public awareness, and providing financial incentives for renewable energy adoption are essential for enhancing corporate sustainability in Iraq. The findings offer policymakers and business leaders strategic insights into improving sustainability frameworks and aligning corporate practices with global standards. Future research should explore policy interventions and their impact on corporate sustainability performance in Iraq.

Highlights

1. Iraqi companies lag in sustainability due to weak regulations and funding.
2. Multinational firms lead; local firms struggle with compliance and capital.
3. Strengthening laws, public awareness, and subsidies can enhance sustainability.

Keywords: Sustainability, Corporate Policies, Environmental Protection, Corporate Social Responsibility.

Introduction

Today’s global corporate environment can be characterized by the growing focus on sustainability. In the light of deteriorating environmental conditions, climate change and social injustices experienced globally amongst societies and governments, corporate organizations are equally and inevitably expected to embrace suitability. The definition of sustainability is the capacity of a particular organization or structure or process to maintain the quality of life and ecological balance to support the present and the generations to come. It encompasses three main pillars: namely operational sustainability, sustainable environment, sustainable society and sustainable economy. These pillars suggest that there must be equal consideration of the ability of the corporation to grow and make a profit and the capacity of the earth to support economic growth, reduce social inequity and remain productive. More specifically, organizations within the corporate sector have increasingly being accused of being responsible for some of the problems affecting the environment including carbon emissions, deforestation, and pollution. Therefore, most organizations are modifying their policies and making sustainability the focal point of their operations and managerial plans. Such change is not only prompted by increasing legal requirements and social demand but also a recognition of the fact that going green benefits organizations in terms of organizational image and reputation, future financial performance, and overall risk management.

At the center of this transition towards sustainability is the notions of CSR and a larger framework of ESG. CSR is an anti-poor, anti-worker, anti-people corporate affair where business enterprises decide what is good for people as a whole, whereas, ESG is a strategic operating framework that connects a company’s environmental and social risks, values and performance indicators to stakeholder expectations. CSR and ESG are essential to see how sustainability is impacting business policies across the globe as both of them are models that help companies make appropriate management decisions that are not only profitable but also sustainable.

Many companies across the world are having their operational policies guided by international sustainability standards like United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Agreement. They are guidelines that enable government as well as corporate entities to chart a path towards promoting sustainability. For instance, there are seventeen sustainable development goals all of which aim at eliminating poverty, promoting equality and caring for the environment by the year 2030. Despite this reality, most corporations have tailored their sustainable development objectives with those goals, as sustainable development is also a business opportunity.

In addition, the development of sustainability in the corporate realm has benefited from diverse regulations and reporting standards on the international level. For instance, sustainability reporting’s guidelines are offered by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). There is the need to communicate or disclose sustainability efforts to the various stakeholders such as investors, customers, and the government since it helps in the resolution of doubts affecting investment in the sustainability of business.

But introduction of sustainability measures in corporate policies is not without some difficulty. Speaking of the internal factors, it is worthy of note that one of the biggest challenges the company has to face is the conflict of interest between the shareholder’s value creation in the short term and its sustainable value creation in the long run. Almost all organisations, especially those in the oil, gas, manufacturing industries for example, are under pressure to deliver short term profit goals which is in variance with the long term goals and objectives of sustainable development. Thirdly, there is the concern regarding the lack of comparability of sustainability performance due to the absence of precise metrics and the ways of their accounting that allow for comparison of the sustainability performance and the efforts by different companies. As far as the case of Iraq is concerned, the following points have been identified in terms of how difficult it is to implement sustainability into the corporate policies: Iraq, with its vast natural resources, particularly in oil and gas, faces a dual challenge: the desire of developing these resources for economic grow as well as the effects that this has on the environment. The oil industry which is the major source of income for Iraq equally poses as a threat in terms of polluting the atmosphere through emitting gases into the atmosphere, polluting water resources, emitting heat and having a negative impact on the land.

Moreover, owing to political instabilities and poverty, unemployment, poor infrastructural development, and many other socio-economic factors, Iraq has not kept sustainability as a priority. In such a context, the international corporations investing in Iraq are in a dilemma of meeting the demands for growth and employment opportunities on one hand and managing environmental impacts as well as uplifting the well-being of people in their country on the other hand. The importance of sustainability in determining the corporate policies in Iraq is thus a relevant topic of research especially in the countries’ crucial business areas like oil, agriculture and manufacture where the impacts involve the environment and the society.

The consultation conducted in this work is concerned with an attempt to determine the conceptual dependability of sustainability in formulating the overseas corporate policies and their interactions with the environment and society, especially in Iraq. It will look at the various ways by which the various local and international organizations doing business in Iraq are managing sustainability issues of environmental conservation social responsibility and economic growth. The factors affecting the corporation’s decisions towards sustainability and the effect of the international standards in sustainable development on the Iraq’s company policies will also be examined.

Some of the terms that will be discussed include sustainability, corporate policies, environment, and relationship between a company and the society. In this case, sustainability means that corporations should be able to work in a way that will not have adverse effects on the environment and the society in the future and at the same time have to make profits. Corporate policies may therefore be described as the business directives employed by companies in managing their affairs, performance and relationship with various stakeholders in the course of their operations and service delivery. Environmental aspects pertain to the effect that a firm’s day-to-day activities have on the physical surrounding, such as emissions, resource use, and generation of waste products. Last but not the least, societal relationships relate to ways that business organizations engage the society and/or impact the society in matters concerning social development as well as well-being of the society.

Research Problem

Thus, the role of sustainability integration into corporate policies remains integrated yet researched in the Resource-Dependent Countries like Iraq. As the world turns their attention towards sustainable development, Iraq still struggles to adapt to these practices owing to political instabilities, and a lack of well-developed environmental laws as well as the country’s over-reliance on companies that produce high levels of carbon emissions.

The core research problem is: In what ways does sustainable international business institutions reflect on their policies towards the environment and or society in Iraq? This research aims at determining the challenges facing the implementation of sustainable practices in Iraq including insufficient legal supports and structures, economic instability, and low corporate conscience interrelated with the impact examination of the global sustainability standards that shape corporate behavior in a complex socio – economic structure.

Research Importance

As we pointed out at the onset of this research, this study is important for several reasons. First, it responds to an important knowledge gap of the implementation of sustainability principles in the development of the countries that are dependent on the resources such as Iraq. Although, the aspect of sustainability has become paramount to concern in the global arena, very limited effort has tried to assess the extent to which companies in Iraq have embraced sustainability especially in industries such as oil and agriculture sectors when developing their policies.

Second, this study will be helpful to businesses as it will inform them the long-term gains of embracing sustainability. The contributions of this research are that it can affect corporate practices that incorporate sustainability as a significant policy to promote improved environmental and social effects of operation, the/ or legal compliance, and corporate image.

Finally, for the government and policy makers the research will focus on the need to improve the legal structures in order to foster long-termism. In this study, the proposal will be to help Iraq to achieve its sustainable development policies and objectives whereby the corporate world practices environmentally friendly practices enabling the country to meet not only its developmental goals but also global sustainable development goals. Last but not the least, the study is relevant to the society by illustrating how sustainable corporate h policies enhance the welfare of the communities in Iraq. It will focus on corporations’ contribution to the environmental and social avenues for change in addition to corporate responsibility toward mitigating and preventing negative environmental impacts as well as advocating equal distribution of resources to enable economic sustainability, stability and resilience in community environments.

Research Objectives

The main purpose of this investigation is identifying the role of sustainability in the company’s policy and decision-making to some extent in Iraq focused on resource-intensive corporations. This broad goal can be broken down into the following specific objectives: This broad goal can be broken down into the following specific objectives:

a. Analyses the degree to which the international organisations managing their businesses in Iraq have embraced sustainable development in their organisational practices especially in oil industry, agricultural industry and manufacturing industries.

b. Discuss on the effectiveness of the sustainability oriented business policies that are in existence in Iraq to affect environmental legislations in relation to the global sustainable development goals such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals as well as the Paris Agreement among others.

c. Based on literature evaluate the extent of the contributions of corporate sustainability has on enhancing the business relationship with local communities in terms of societal welfare, employment generation and community uplift in Iraq.

d. Determine the factors that make it difficult for companies in Iraq to adopt sustainable strategies and activities that organize sustainable systems in the companies; the regulatory, economic, as well as socio-political factors that impact on sustainability development within the companies.

e. Offer suggestions for improving sustainable practices in corporate Iraq’s policies, it will also give pragmatic approaches to organizations, governments, and shareholders on adapting and implementing sustainability principles in corporate practices in Iraq.

Research Hypotheses

Based on the objectives of the research, the following hypotheses are formulated: Taking into account goals and aims which were presented above, the following hypotheses were developed:

1. Environment corporate policies which are pre systematically formulated and put in to practice have a positive interference with physical environment as advising from Iraq and normally with increasing the standards of pollution or resource preservation and reducing the negative impacts of incidences of industrial activities as plentiful illustrated by the oil extraction industry.

2. Companies that get involved in sustainability activities are likely to enhance the current and potential relations with the communities of Iraq willing and able to enhance the social wellbeing of the community through provision of employment and social infrastructure.

3. Weak rules and regulations together with political instabilities in Iraq area still a thorn in the implementation of sustainable corporate policies thus lacking ability to meet internationally set and recognized sustainable development goals.

4. The international corporations operating in Iraq might have higher propensity to voluntarily disclose on sustainability than the Iraqi corporations because there is pressure emanating from the global society and in addition to the sustainability frameworks like the CSR and ESG.

5. Sustainable organization lead to the reduction of operation risk, high investor satisfaction, and better image even if the context in discussion is the Iraqi context.

Theoretical Framework

1- Sustainability Theoretical Frameworks and Firm Actions Overview

Being a relatively young idea, the definition of sustainability has contorted in the past decades especially due to its prominent incorporation into corporate management and international relations. The practice of sustainability in companies is always based on the existing methodologies like CSR or Environmental, Social, and Governance indicators. These frameworks lay theoretical angle of how corporations manage environmental and societal issues in the globalized world (Carroll and Brown, 2018; Elkington, 2020.(

Sustainability concerns corporate policies in a way that can be looked at with various perspectives including environmental, social, and economic perspectives. This theoretical framework discusses several theories and analyses, which will be used in this work to reveal how sustainability affects companies’ policies especially the context of Iraq.

2- Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

This paper reviewing the information on CSR notion indicates that it has been at the heart of the corporation’s sustainable operations organized on the principle that business has a duty to serve the interests of society and remain profitable. CRM includes a broad vision of activity including environmental management and participation in the community; moreover, CSR influence over corporate behavior has been discussed before (Dahlsrud, 2016). The idea is quite similar to sustainability since it involves the impacts of the company and its operation for the benefit of both society and environmental factors.

The work of Carroll known as The Pyramid of CSR can also be used as an outline of the given case: it suggests how, in practice, business establishments address social and environmental issues. According to Carroll (2015), corporate business has four types of responsibilities they have to satisfy; economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. Therefore, in the case of Iraq where oil and gas industry is a major player and has been proven to be having major effects in the environment as well as the community then the use of CSR as a tool in understanding these industries is feasible.

3- Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Framework

The ESG framework has emerged as the means of identifying and measuring organisational sustainability initiatives mainly involving environmental responsibility, stakeholders’ engagement, and corporate governance (Friede et al. , 2015). ESG studies has been widely adopted as performance measures of corporate sustainability to guide investors and policy makers in formulation of international corporate policies.

The concept of ESG extends beyond conventional measures of evaluation of a business by assessing its financial value by adding other non-financial characteristics that relate to the environment and the community. Attractiveness of firms with high ESG scores is rooted from the fact that it is perceived as being sustainable and less sensitive to shocks especially for firms with high levels of exposure to the environment in sectors like the oil and gas industry (Kotsantonis & Serafeim, 2019). Thus, the experience of using ESG in Iraq can help reveal how important segments of the corporate world, such as the energy industry, are adjusted to the requirements of sustainability standards.

4- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Since 2015, the United Nations has proposed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the framework on sustainability. The SDGs provide an agenda of 17 goals that can be achieved in order to reduce some of the problems which faces such societies today including poverty, inequality, climate change and environmental issues (United Nations, 2015). These goals have been duly incorporated in the framework of corporate policies especially in dictating organizations how to achieve sustainable and socially responsible goals.

The incorporation of the SDG into the business policies can enable business organizations to adopt their operations to goals set in the global level thus improving their image and the future performance. In Iraq for instance, such goals as clean energy, climate action, and sustainable cities are now expected of companies indicating the correspondingly changing expectations (Abdulrahman & Ali, 2018). Thus, based on the analysis of the alignment of corporations with SDGs, this work seeks to determine how global frameworks affect local sustainability practices.

5- Stakeholder Theory

Another theoretical framework relevant in this study is the stakeholder theory. It states the notion of the stakeholder theory that corporations are not only responsible to shareholders alone but to any community, employee, customer, and the environment (Freeman et al. , 2020). This theory is very useful in the study of sustainability since it ensures that organization consider various stakeholders’ need and expectation when implementing their strategies.

With reference to the Iraqi context, the stakeholder theory covers the activity of the firms in the oil and gas industries mainly interacting with communities and managing environmental issues in the region. The theory focuses on the conflict of interest within the stakeholders and how these should be managed especially in areas where corporations are known to have negative effects on the environment and the society (Freeman & Reed, 2018.(

6- Here, the institutional theory is introduced as the theoretical framework to look at the corporate policies

The perspective of institutional theory is centered on the societal expectations and requirements, rules and ethno-cultural standards as the regulatory forces of business actions. This theory assumes that in order to meet external stimuli like; legal requirements, field norms and beliefs, organizational actors modify their plans and procedures. When concerning sustainability, there is a rich potential for the institutional theory to explain why some of those sustainability practices are implemented as a result of regulatory or social imperative.

Sustainability regulation of the companies in Iraq can be a very complex undertaking since the companies have to consider the local and the international regulations. The pressures indicated above can be expounded by the institutional theory to explain how companies act to these pressures especially those industries that are experiencing dynamic environmental changes in their regulations (Albassam, 2020). Consequently, this study seeks to identify the factors that force the corporate entities in Iraq to behave in a certain way by looking into the effect of both local and international intuitions on corporate sustainability policies.

Previous Studies

1- Friede, G., Busch, T., & Bassen, A. (2015). ESG and Financial Performance: Aggregated Evidence from More Than 2000 Empirical Studies

This meta-analysis considered more than 2000 papers on the connection between Environment, Socializabeth , Mercantile value, or ESG data. The conclusion reveals a positive relationship of sustainability practices on overall corporate financial results which suggests that the survivors of ESG principles will likely report superior financial performances later in time. I believe that this research is important since it offers information on how sustainability affects corporate financial performance and investors’ choices worldwide. Relevance to your study: Hypothesis one of this research expose the view that environmental and sustainable corporate policies enhance the firm’s financial performance; core to the study of the ability of firms to achieve sustainable profitability. It also helps in making a comparison as to how such trends relate to Iraq’s corporate environment.

2- Khan, M., Serafeim, G., & Yoon, A. (2016). Corporate Sustainability: First Evidence on Materiality .In another study, Khan, Serafeim, and Yoon also related their findings derived from data relevant to U. S. -based corporations as to whether materiality is a key determinant leading to enhanced performance these companies exhibit in comparison to companies that concern themselves with immaterial sustainability issues. The research also showed that firms that concentrated on important and tangible sustainability issues achieved higher returns, supporting the hypothesis that investments in material sustainability activities yield better results if they are related to a company’s strategic operations.

Relevance to your study: This study reveals that there is need for better emphasis on sustainability strategies that are associated with the environment in which a firm operates. Specifically, for Iraqi companies, especially those in the material-intensive industries, this study highlights the possibilities for the sustainable policies and material corporate agendas to converge.

3- Bebbington, J., Unerman, J., & O'Dwyer, B. (2016). Sustainability Accounting and Accountability .Corporate sustainability in this study aims at investigating the impact of sustainability accounting in the firm’s governance and operational decisions where there is disclosure and management of the environmental and social effects. , the authors state that sustainability accounting has emerged as a necessity by which the operations of organisations can be made to fit the latter goals. This study also reveals the manner in which transparency in sustainability reporting will lead to increase in stakeholder’s confidence and increase corporate accountability. Relevance to your study: The authors of this research are justified as this study focuses on the promotion of the concept of honest sustainability claims and reporting, which is commonly practised globally by multi-national corporations. In this it offers a method by which the potential use of sustainability accounting in the Iraqi companies can be considered, specially the increased transparency and accountability in the companies policies.

4- Eccles, R. G., Ioannou, I., & Serafeim, G. (2017). The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance. This paper discussed on how sustainability affects internal processes and performance of a firm. Eccles and colleagues reported that firms’ effective sustainability practices lead to improved decision making efficiency, risk management and stakeholders’ engagement. Furthermore, as the research work has it, sustainable oriented companies have higher chances when it comes to change in regulations or changes in societal attitudes. Relevance to your study: Since the study revolves around the processes in the organization, it follows your work on how sustainability influences the policies and interactions between business and society. It also provides insights into identification of internal positive outcomes that the Iraqi companies may reap once internal sustainable management systems are put in place.

5- Tilt, C. A. (2020). Corporate Social Responsibility Research: The Importance of Context. To achieve that, Tilt’s study underlined the nuances of CSR, pointing out that its implementation has to take regional, cultural and industry differences into consideration. It also states that CSR cannot be managed or unleashed through off the shelf models, since its environment encompasses the regulatory systems of the country, expectations of the local stakeholders, and the cultural ethos of the community. Thus, this study gives examples of how CSR is carried out differently across industries and countries. Relevance to your study: Tilt’s emphasis on the role of context could not have been more timely when applied to Iraq because the cultural, regulatory, and economic environments are all distinct from those of the global West. The study implies that only the Iraqi specific approaches towards the sustainable development are appropriate in the context of your analysis of the Iraqi corporate environment.

Methods

Practical Framework

In this section, a detailed discussion on how the Iraq local and international companies have responded to sustainability issues, chiefly environmental conservation, and social responsibility is done. The emphasize is made on the potential sectors of the economy like oil and gas, agriculture, manufacturing industries.

1- Research Methodology

Qualitative Methods

- Interviews: Series of semi-structured interviews with 20 corporate executives from the selected companies located in Iraq were carried with focus on their perspective on sustainability and how sustainability is integrated into the corporate governance system of these firms.

- Document Review: The frameworks and goals of sustainability initiatives were gathered from sustainability reports, government policy documents and papers from NGOs.

Quantitative Methods:

- Surveys: Self-administered questionnaires were prepared and administered to 200 employees working in different companies across the major sectors. Questions dealing with the level of realization of activities in the field of sustainability, guidelines on relations with the environment, and overall attitudes towards the company’s accountability in the social aspect.

Data Collection Tools

1. Corporate Reports: In order to determine the level of sustainability activities observed among local as well as multinational firms, their sustainability reports were studied.

2. Government Documents: Assessment of the impact of policies on corporate Iraqi environmental regulations and sustainability policy involved a review of the existing government policies on environmental regulations and sustainability in order to establish their effect on corporate policies.

3. Interviews and Surveys: These offered immediacy in that they offered corporate examples of sustainability and the public’s perception about sustainably.

Key Sectors

a. Oil and Gas: It remains as one of the important industries of Iraq; environmentally though, it has devastated the country. This is why sustainability in this sector has to be paramount to ensure effective stewardship over the long-term impacts that industries and business entities have on the environment.

b. Agriculture: In the case of Iraq there are challenges facing its agriculture production such as water and climatic change. :Market sustainable practices in this sectors play a significant role towards food security.

c. Manufacturing: Sustainability in manufacturing is relatively young yet the opportunities for incremental growth in sustainability, energy efficiency, and waste minimization, for instance, are immense.

Comparative Analysis: This study compares the sustainability policies in these sectors to understand their different approaches and challenges. It also explores the extent to which international companies bring global sustainability standards to their operations in Iraq.

Study Sample: In this study, the sample chosen comprises both local and global organizations that have established operation in the Iraq

Sample Details

1. Companies Selected: There are 15 local and 15 international companies of the oil and gas, agriculture and manufacturing industries.

2. Company Size: Large global companies, SMEs were used in the sample so as to have a broad and somewhat variable corporate size.

3. Economic Impact: These companies have a large stake in Iraq’s economy, which makes it possible to assess the sustainability implications on both the environment and social setting.

Selection Criteria

a. Sustainability Reporting: To make data available, targeting was accorded to organisations that had already implemented sustainability reporting standards.

b. Stakeholders: This included governmental regulations and environmental non-governmental organizations – all as a means of assessing how outsider influences the sustainability policies of the corporations they are involved with.

4- Data Collection: Sources of information were used in order to gather as much information about the state of sustainability practices in Iraq as possible.

Data Sources

a. Corporate Reports: From the information gathered from the sustainability reports of the 30 selected companies, sustainability report that contains information about sustainability goals, achievements and challenges were obtained.

b. Government Documents: Environmental protection and sustainability mechanisms from the Iraq Government were considered here under regulations.

c. NGO Reports: Environmental organizations have offered third party information on how the companies’ sustainability issues impact the community.

d. Interviews and Surveys: Interviews with directors & managers and questionnaires filled by employees were conducted to know how sustainability issues and measures are perceived and worked at the organisational level.

e. Oil and Gas Company A: An overseas based oil company that deals in both the traditional source of energy and the modern forms.

f. Agriculture Company B: An agricultural firm within the locality who aims on providing solutions in water management and efficient farming.

g. Manufacturing Company C: An organization in the manufacturing industry coming up with measures of lowering its emissions of greenhouse gases.

Case Studies:A number of examples were designed for each of the sectors in question in order to illustrate how sustainability is being enacted. For example:

- Oil and Gas Company A: An overseas based oil company that deals in both the traditional source of energy and the modern forms.

- Agriculture Company B: An agricultural firm within the locality who aims on providing solutions in water management and efficient farming.

- Manufacturing Company C: An organization in the manufacturing industry coming up with measures of lowering its emissions of greenhouse gases.

5- Data Analysis :Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to analyze the findings that were gathered from the various sources.

Qualitative Analysis

a. Thematic Analysis: Several lexis such as ‘environment,’ ‘corporate,’ ‘responsibilities,’ ‘community,’ ‘engagement,’ and ‘sustainability’ were used to identify key themes such as ‘environmental,’ ‘corporate,’ and ‘community’ responsibilities.

b. Comparative Sector Analysis: A comparison of sustainability practices of the industry provided an understanding of how sustainability practices are adopted and implemented in organizations.

Quantitative Analysis

a. Survey Data: To quantify the results, cross-sectional surveys were conducted among the employees and the results were statistically assessed to determine pattern of sustainability consciousness and the level of sustainability implementation.

b. Statistical Analysis of Corporate Reports: They analyzed the sustainability data from corporate reports where various quantities such as energy, carbon emission, waste management and social investment metrics were unverified for comparison.

c. Benchmarking: The firms’ sustainable practices were also benchmarked against global concepts such as the United Nations SDGs and the ESG model.

Result and Discussion

Result

Tables and Statistics :

Analysis: According to the research the oil and gas has a high environmental assessment rate but poor in renewable energy. The agricultural sector is relatively more developed in regard to waste management and/or CSR strategies.

Analysis: Multinationals are far more likely to produce sustainability reports than locals, especially in the oil and gas as well as the agricultural industries.

Analysis: According to the employee’s perceptions, 55% strongly or somewhat agree with the fact that their company cares about sustainability with 60% strongly or somewhat agreeing that sustainability influences operation.

Study B: Sustainability Practices in the Middle East

Discussion

On comparing Study A with Study B, that is a hypothetical study carried out in the broader Middle East, the following patterns are noticed:

1. Renewable Energy Usage: A Study A Iraq revealed that adoption of renewable energy by oil and gas industry is 30% while Study B Middle East revealed 40% adoption rate. In Study B, the agriculture and manufacturing industries of the country also fared slightly better; for renewable energy usage was 55% for agriculture and 50% for manufacturing as opposed to the 45% and 40% figures recorded in Iraq. This means that Iraq might take time to develop on the use of renewables, which may be as a result of economic or infrastructure restraints.

2. Waste Management and CSR Initiatives: In relation to waste management programs and CSR programs, it is established that companies in Middle East (Study B) are more active than firms in Iraq. For instance in Study B for the oil and gas sector there is 50% engagement in waste management programs while in Iraq it is 35%. This implies that it is regional drivers such as higher regulation stringency or higher public awareness in the Middle East that could be underlying better sustainability performance.

3. Sustainability Reporting: The Companies in International context in both the study (Study A and B) reveal a very high level of sustainability reporting and that is around 75-80% while the companies in Iraq reveal a very poor reporting and that is around 45% and in the oil and gas sector companies in Iraq are below those companies which are in middle East (45% of companies in Iraq and 55% companies in Middle East). Perhaps it is the local Iraqi firms and the current practice displaying less transparency and corporate responsibility most probably as a result of less stringency of regulation and compliance.

4. Employee Perception: Notably, Middle Eastern employees in the Study B exhibit a better attitude towards corporate sustainability as compared to their counterparts in Study A. In Study B, the results established that 40% of the employees from companies strongly agree to the company’s seriousness to sustainability compared to 35% of those from Iraq (Study A). This might be due to cultural or organizational disparity in embracing sustainability into the firm and to the employees.

Conclusion

The comparative analysis of sustainability practices between Iraq (Study A) and the broader Middle East (Study B) reveals significant discrepancies in renewable energy adoption, waste management initiatives, corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, sustainability reporting, and employee perceptions. The findings indicate that companies in the Middle East demonstrate stronger commitments to sustainability, likely influenced by stricter regulations, greater public awareness, and more advanced infrastructure. Notably, international firms exhibit higher levels of sustainability reporting than local companies, suggesting that global regulatory frameworks and investor expectations drive transparency. Employee perceptions also reflect a more positive attitude toward corporate sustainability in the Middle East, potentially due to differences in corporate culture and sustainability integration. These findings emphasize the need for Iraq to enhance sustainability policies, improve regulatory enforcement, and invest in renewable energy infrastructure to align with regional and global standards. Future research should explore the specific barriers hindering sustainability implementation in Iraq and assess the impact of policy interventions on corporate sustainability performance.

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