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Corporate Social Responsibility

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What is Corporate Social Responsibility?

 

Corporate social responsibility* is an organization’s responsibility for the impacts of its activities on the society and the environment. That is through transparent and ethical behavior that:

  • Contributes to Sustainable Development, including health and the welfare of society
  •  Takes into account the expectations of stakeholders
  • Is in compliance with applicable law and consistent with international norms of behavior
  • And is integrated throughout the organization and implemented in its relations.

The 6 core subjects listed by ISO 26000 are:

  • Human rights
  • Labor practices
  • The environment
  • Fair operating practices
  • Consumer issues
  • Community involvement and development

*Corporate social responsibility is related to concepts of responsible or sustainable business

 

Principles

Corporate social responsibility main actions are that businesses should:

  • Support and respect the protection of human rights. Ensure they are not complicit with any abuses in their operations and seek to eliminate of all forms of forced  labour
  • Promote equality and elimination of discrimination in regards to employment
  • Take responsibility for all environmental impacts of the business
  • Adhere to ethical business practices, including anti-corruption measures, whistle-blower mechanisms and responsible marketing.
  • Extend this responsibility to their supply chain, and ensure these principles are upheld by their suppliers, partners, distributors and other third parties.
  • Embrace transparency and report on the company’s progress across corporate social responsibility topics

CSR Themes and Criteria

EcoVadis defines the scope of corporate social responsibility
as encompassing the following themes:

Learn More About the Criteria in our
    Comprehensive Methodology Guide

Implementation

  • Establish a CSR management system: create necessary policies, operational action plans, and reporting mechanisms for these activities that spans all CSR themes . Ensure that policies are defined, resources allocated to create and execute action plans to implement the policies, and track and report on KPIs and results.
  • Ensuring top management’s commitment, most especially the CEO is communicated across the whole company.
  • Create a role of CSR expert to at decision making level to manage policy development and implementation.
  • Development of relationships with all stakeholders (Shareholders, employees, NGOs, partners, customers, etc.)
  • Integrate in regular reporting (e.g. annual reports)

Benefits

  • Better anticipation and management of ever-expanding spectrum of risk
  • Improved reputation and brand image management
  • Improved innovation, competitiveness and market positioning
  • Enhanced operational and cost savings
  • Improved ability to attract and build effective and efficient supply chain relationships
  • Improved relations with regulators, compliance with environmental and social legislations

The EcoVadis Assessment and Scorecard can provide your company, a thorough understanding of it’s management system, strengths and improvement areas.

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