Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

“Guidance on Responsible Business in Conflict-Affected and High-risk Areas: A Resource for Companies and Investors” aims to assist companies in implementing responsible business practices in conflict-affected and high-risk areas consistent with the Global Compact Ten Principles. It seeks to provide a common reference point for constructive dialogue between companies and investors on what constitutes responsible business practices in difficult operating environments, though it does not provide guidance on investment practices of financial institutions.

This report explores four key strategies companies can use to expand economic opportunity: 1) creating inclusive business models; 2) developing human capital; 3) building institutional capacity; and 4) helping to optimize the "Rules of the Game."

International Finance Corporation (IFC) applies the Performance Standards to manage social and environmental risks and impacts and to enhance development opportunities in its private sector financing in its member countries eligible for financing.

This report is the product of the first phase of an ongoing collaboration between Business for Social Responsibility and AccountAbility in association with Brody Weiser Burns. Supported by The Ford Foundation, the project and publication have explored the basis by which leading companies measure, manage, and report on their economic impacts - the most direct pathway along which business creates social and environmental outcomes - in particular in disadvantaged communities.

In a series of four national roundtables organized by the Government of Canada during 2006, the actions of Canadian petroleum and mining companies active abroad were examined in relation to their demonstrating corporate social responsibility. The objective of the roundtables, held in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary, was to generate a report to Parliament presenting “recommendations for government, NGOs (non-governmental organizations), labour organizations, businesses and industry associations on ways to strengthen approaches to managing the external impacts of international business activities to benefit both businesses and the communities within which they work.” Specifically, the roundtables looked at measures that could be taken during the following one to three years to enable Canadian extractive sector companies operating in developing countries to meet or exceed leading CSR best practices.

The publication is divided into three sections. The first contains those resources of most practical use to companies, e.g., checklists and guides. The second section contains codes, standards and guidelines developed by international agencies (some of these are specific to the mineral industry; others are of more general application). The third section comprises background material that provides the context for sustainable development and CSR.

Amidst the ongoing debate on how best to achieve good social and environmental practices in global supply chains, the World Bank Group commissioned a study on barriers to the achievement of better social and environmental performance in suppliers, and also on the options that hold the greatest promise for overcoming those barriers and enabling future improvement. Specifically, in the words of the Bank Group, the overall objective of the study is to “. . . contribute to a broader goal of removing unnecessary barriers to CSR compliance at the supplier level in global supply chains, enabling more suppliers to implement CSR standards more easily.”