Industry News – Corporate Social Responsibility
By Raha Naddaf, staff writer
Corporate
Social Responsibility Survey
A new survey conducted by UNDP, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, CII and
the British Council evaluated the perceptions, drivers, hindrances,
prevalent approaches and issues of corporate volunteerism and future
leadership affecting corporate social responsibility (CSR). Findings
indicate that a majority of the respondents have ranked ethical
conduct, including compliance and transparency of business and nation
building, amongst the definitions closest to their perception of
CSR. Companies claim that a desire to be a good corporate citizen
and for improved brand image drive CSR. Eighty-one percent of respondents
have defined ethics requirements, 76 percent have environmental
requirements, 72 percent meet all regulatory compliance requirements
and 76 percent have clearly defined health and safety requirements.
Source: British Council
Opinion
Leaders’ Trust in Business and Government is Strengthening
Trust in business and government is strengthening in the U.S. and
Europe and is comparatively higher in Brazil and China, according
to the fifth annual Edelman Trust Barometer, a survey of 1,200 opinion
leaders in Brazil, China, France, Germany, UK, and the U.S. Opinion
leaders are significantly less likely to trust individual U.S.-based
global corporations operating in Europe, however there is no “trust
discount” for Asian or European corporations operating in
the U.S. Fifty-one percent of U.S. opinion leaders now trust U.S.
business “to do what is right,” up from 41 percent in
June 2002 and 48 percent in January 2003. By comparison, European
opinion leaders’ confidence in business rose to 40 percent,
up from 35 percent in January 2003. Trust in business is strong
in both China (50 percent) and Brazil (60 percent). The Edelman
Trust Barometer highlights that U.S. companies are the least trusted
in Europe (38 percent) and French-based companies are the least
trusted in the U.S. (34 percent).
Source: CSRwire
ERM
Survey Shows Multinationals are not Managing CSR Proactively
High profile events, from NGO campaigns on climate change, to the
recent corporate governance scandals and accounting failures, are
increasing the pressure on large multinational companies to manage
environment and CSR issues proactively. Despite this, 60 percent
of major multinationals do not track and manage new and emerging
environmental and CSR issues in a systematic way, according to a
study. ERM's study consisted of 25 multinational companies in 6
sectors (Electrical & Electronics, Fast-Moving Consumer Goods,
Automotive, Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Oil, Gas & Mining,
and Retail), with a combined annual turnover of greater than U.S.
$10 billion in late 2002. Thirty-six percent of those who participated
do not feel that they are on top of the major issues affecting their
sector, while 44 percent feel that they would benefit from having
more structured and disciplined systems to manage these issues.
Source: ERM
Social
and Environmental Performance will Significantly Influence Investment
Decisions within Next Three Years
A new survey published today by CSR Europe, Deloitte and Euronext
reveals that social and environmental performance is on course to
becoming a significant aspect of mainstream investment decisions
within the next three years. The survey, Investing in Responsible
Business," shows that a majority (52 percent) of fund managers
and analysts and 47 percent of investor relations officers (IROs)
agree on that this trend will soon become a reality. Six out of
ten fund managers and analysts say they have noticed an increased
interest in socially responsible investment (SRI) over the past
two years. An even greater number (69 percent of fund managers and
analysts) expects the SRI market to grow over the next two years.
The European SRI retail market is currently estimated to be worth
€12.2 billion, while the European SRI institutional market
represents €336 billion. Survey responses also confirm that
nearly half of Europe’s financial institutions already offer
SRI products.
Source: CSR Europe
The
Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index
Launched in 1999, the Dow
Jones Sustainability Indexes are the first global indexes tracking
the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies
worldwide. The Index seeks to meet the financial market's demands
for an index to benchmark the performance of investments in companies
that are striving to become more sustainable. The Index recognizes
the importance of integrating economic, environmental and social
factors in business strategy and places particular stress on innovative
technology, corporate governance, shareholder interest, industry
leadership and corporate response to changes in society. The sustainability
assessment includes general sustainability criteria that are applied
to all industries and take into account the characteristics of certain
industries.
Sources: mallenbaker.net and Dow Jones
New Service for Reporting
CSR Data
At the end of March 2004, SRI World Group, Inc. will launch a new
service that will enable companies to more efficiently report their
CSR-related data to research firms and other data users. This new
online service streamlines the reporting process by consolidating
surveys from major research firms, allowing companies to provide
their information to investors and other stakeholders through one
database system. This service is designed to reduce “survey
fatigue” for corporate communications, investor relations,
human resources, CSR and EH&S professionals. Currently, research
firms gather environmental, social, economic, and corporate governance
data on an individual basis by sending surveys to companies. Companies
that choose to provide data to more than one investment research
firm must complete more than one survey, hence “survey fatigue.”
The online tool has delegation, approval and review functionalities,
making it much easier for companies to manage the internal collection
of information. The tool offers a number of other features, such
as the ability to record audit notes for reported data. To learn
more about this time-saving reporting service, please visit www.SRIworld.com.
Source: SRI World
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