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CSR and Sustainability Overview |
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The concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability have evolved over the last 15 years, growing out of a more narrow and regulatory-based approach to managing specific aspects of environmental and social issues. These concepts are built around the notion that firms need to attend to a "triple bottom line" of economic, environmental and social issues, with a view to operating in a sustainable manner. Public pressure on firms to embrace these concepts has been strengthened by:
- The increasing ability of public issues (from corporate ethics scandals to AIDS) to make an impact on the financial health of firms;
- The applicability of CSR to some industry sectors (mining, cement, chemicals), which rely on local community acceptance to assure their license to operate; and
- The increasing acceptance of research from the socially responsible investment (SRI) community that finds that sound social and environmental management results in better long-term share value.
A myriad of CSR initiatives are available to firms seeking to integrate CSR into their business value propositions. The more significant of these include a code of business CSR conduct (the UN Global Compact); guidelines for reporting (the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)); and a standard for independently assuring that CSR is embedded into an organization (AccountAbility’s AA1000 Assurance Standard). Also, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has elected to develop a Guidance Document on CSR.
Cameron-Cole has worked with the major players in this arena and on all of these initiatives. Within the context of CSR, we advise clients on strategy, reporting, report assurance, major issue management and verification (greenhouse gases), management systems, and environmentally preferable purchasing. |
