Since the 1987 Brundtland Report, which put sustainability on the business map, the Rio Conference in 1992 and its famous declaration, and the concept of a “triple bottom line” put forth by John Elkington in 1994, issues related to sustainability have expanded as a central topic in corporate boardrooms and business strategy. Along the way, sustainability ideas and concepts have morphed into the broader area of corporate responsibility (numerous terms are used to describe this: corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility, and social responsibility).
As an important and rapidly evolving area, there is a wild-west quality to defining, executing, and measuring sustainability and CSR initiatives. Commonly identified sustainability issues include: reduction of energy use, carbon-generation, waste, etc. Some CSR norms, sustainability issues, child-labor issues, and good EHS practices have gained general acceptance—but CSR, especially, is still a very fluid area. The CSR (or SR) ISO activities (ISO 26000) might help, but it will take many years for this to fully flesh out. Read More
Posted By Charles Redinger | in Corporate Social Responsibility, Emerging Issues, Innovation, Risk Management, Sustainability | Tags: Brundtland, Business Strategy, CSR, ISO 26000, ISO 31000, ISO 3100:2009, Our Common Future, Rio Conference, Risk Management, Sustainability, Triple Bottom Line, UNCED | No Comments »
A recent publication from the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship contains information on the Center’s 2009 survey of 756 small, medium and large companies across the United States. The survey demonstrates the increasing importance of Corporate Citizenship, Corporate Responsibility and Corporate Social Responsibility (CC/CR/CSR) in organizations.
