About 80 percent of the businesses surveyed in seven countries have executed some type of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice, says a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) study. In addition, because the importance of CSR has increased over the past few years, SHRM is forming a new special expertise panel on CSR.
The study-2007 Corporate Social Responsibility: A Pilot Study-surveyed HR professionals in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Mexico and the United States. About 80 percent of HR professionals in those countries said their organizations participated in practices that could be considered socially responsible and that ranged from donating to local charities to monitoring global fair labor standards, the report says.
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While a majority of North American firms in the survey (almost 60 percent) have a documented corporate-level sustainability strategy, just over one-third (36 percent) have adopted a formal sustainability strategy for the supply management organization-a crucial step in ultimately being able to deliver on their sustainability promises.
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Chief information officers are failing to seize the opportunity to play a bigger role in corporate social responsibility initiatives across their organisations, according to new research.
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More than 100 institutions from 51 countries have submitted entries to the 2007 FT Sustainable Banking Awards, run in association with IFC, underlining the program’s role as the leading global awards recognizing best practice in triple bottom line banking.
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This briefing aims to inform NGOs and other civil society
organisations about the ISO Working Group on Social
Responsibility. This Working Group is currently developing
an international standard that will give guidance to
organisations on social responsibility: the ISO 26000
standard. The Working Group initiated its work in 2004 and
is expected to deliver the guidance standard in the second
half of 2009. The authors of this briefing argue that it is still
worthwhile for NGOs and other civil society organisations
to start participating in the development of the standard.
At this stage of the process, there are many possibilities to
influence the drafting of the standard significantly.
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The increase of social and environmental responsibility by business, linked to the principle of corporate accountability, represents an essential element of the European Social Model and of Europe’s strategy for Sustainable Development, according to the European Parliament which adopted an own initiative report by Richard Howitt (PES, UK) on Corporate Social Responsibility.
The report underlines that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies should be promoted on their own merits, neither as a substitute for appropriate regulation in relevant fields, nor as a covert approach to introducing such legislation. Agreeing with the Commission of the term, the EP defines CSR as “the voluntary integration of environmental and social considerations into business operations, over and above legal requirements and contractual obligations” The Commission is called upon to encourage dissemination of good practice resulting from voluntary CSR initiatives and believe that the Commission should also consider establishing a list of criteria for enterprises to respect if they claim to be responsible.
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Sustainability and the environment will be one of the leading topics at an international meeting on nonwovens to be held in Berlin, Germany by EDANA, the European Nonwovens and Disposables Association.
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Within the next two years, 89% of companies in the United States and 62% in Europe plan to use technology to manage their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, according to a new AMR Research survey. However, while environmental issues are of prime importance in Europe, U.S. firms seem to be ahead in the integration of CSR-related data systems.
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SUSTAINABLE FIRMS. Green businesses. Socially responsible corporations. A growing number of magazines, activist groups and websites publish such lists, suggesting that one can distinguish the good companies from the bad.
The claim that such distinctions are possible is likewise central to ethical mutual funds, indexes and stock rating services that recommend “responsible” investing – with some even asserting that “better” firms have superior financial performance.
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Collaborative initiatives bring together companies, investors, and activists to address issues such as online freedom of expression, climate change, and labor rights in the global supply chain.
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On Wednesday, January 24, 2007, Innovest Strategic Value Advisors will officially launch the third Global 100 list of the most sustainable corporations in the world at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The G100, initiated by Corporate Knights Inc. with Innovest as the exclusive research provider, includes companies from 16 countries in sectors ranging from Oil and Gas to Wireless Telecommunication Services that were evaluated according to how effectively they manage environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities, relative to their industry peers.
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Doing well and doing good is a pretty popular notion these days, especially among the world’s largest corporations. That’s a good thing. After all, who else has the financial resources and the influence to tackle pressing problems like the AIDS epidemic in Africa, cancer and global warming? Here’s our special report on the businesses trying to transform themselves into corporate citizens.
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