April 2001, Debra Kerby / Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR)
Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) produced the following report through a contribution provided by the BC Green Economy Secretariat (GES). This report is intended to create an overview of the support a selection of governments are providing to businesses pursuing socially and environmentally responsible practices.
To put the report in context, the globalization of trade and the expanding interconnectedness of markets and citizens in the last decade has drawn attention to the power of business in terms of its social, environmental, and economic impact. Micro-entrepreneurs to multinationals are paying – or are being forced to pay – greater attention to the ways they operate, to the direct and indirect impact they are having on communities, to the size of ecological imprint they are leaving behind.
The impetus for change is arising on a number of fronts: shifting social values, increasing consumer and shareholder activism , strengthening local and international citizen action, depleting natural resources, and a growing recognition that the costs and benefits of a globalized economy are inequitably shared and dangerously out of balance. Pressures are rapidly increasing for business to responsibly and transparently share leadership with government and civil society to create a more just and sustainable world.
The primary focus is on the social initiatives, touching on environmental initiatives only lightly. This focus is chosen because most businesses are more familiar with environmental practices than social practices. In addition, the companies interviewed for the parallel report to this one, Socially and Environmentally Responsible Business Practices in British Columbia, indicated they would like more support in implementing socially responsible practices.
