Environmental performance metrics are measuring sticks against which companies can gauge their progress toward environmental goals and related business strategies. Good metrics represent infmmation that has been purposefully distilled into manageable bits that help focus attention on key issues. For example, a particular compliance goal may require tracking the mass or concentration of regulated substances that are released to the environment. Progress toward meeting an internal goal of reducing materials or eliminating targeted substances from the waste stream may be tracked by measuring the mass of material inputs and outputs. These metrics, when compared to an a#ropriate benchmark, such as a regulatory standard or an industry average, give a company some means of assessing its performance. A comprehensive set of metrics can assist management to direct corporate resources toward the most pessing poblems and io!entrj the most cost efficient manner of addressing them. They can also be used by companies to communicate the &tails of their environmental perfomzance to customers, investors and other external audiences.

After the emergence of Life Cycle Engineering as an effective tool for analyzing the various environmental impacts of a product in the stages of design/development, manufacturing, service and disposal, a necessity arises to analyze the cost information pertaining to these impacts. ...

This paper deals with a very important subject for both developed and developing countries, one that has yet to be thoroughly analyzed from an environmental perspective: corporate social responsibility. Our analysis is highly relevant in our current context, given the increasing pressures exerted by companies on the environment as a result of their economic activities. Furthermore, another element that makes this study upto-date is the fact that more and more companies have started to pay attention to the concept of corporate social responsibility and have begun to take responsibility for these pressures and act towards reducing them, whether out of voluntary compliance or forced by market conditions or regulatory bodies. The present study is a historical descriptive-analytic investigation of the concept of corporate social responsibility and its environmental component. The aim of the research is to create a historical analysis of this concept and its environmental aspects at the international level, presenting at the same time the various organizations and programs involved in its development and in the actions, that help implement it. The social responsibility of companies, also known as corporate social responsibility (CSR) or, in French, responsabilité sociétale des entreprises (RSE), is a fundamental component of the broader concept of social responsibility. There is no unanimously accepted version for the birth of this notion or its first proposed definitions. In time, the importance of CSR has steadily grown, and it became the focus of attention not just for theoreticians and companies, but also for international organizations, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations (UN), the Global Compact Program, the ISO 26000 Social Responsibility Standard or the European Union. We can thus say that a new stage began for the evolution of corporate social responsibility, where the most important aspects are the planning and subsequent implementation of its underlying concepts. Corporate social responsibility received significant attention from international organizations, and this served as a strong incentive for the business environment to adopt the concept. From an environmental standpoint, corporate social responsibility is becoming increasingly important, due to the pressures exerted by companies on the natural world. At an international level, most major corporations have accepted the principle of the responsibility that they have towards society for the environmental impact generated by their economic activities. This acceptance has been followed by the adoptions of internal operational policies aimed at reducing the said impact. Corporate social responsibility is not just an act of philanthropy or a fad, but a very serious behavior which should serve as a foundation for the actions of a corporation and that will naturally lead to long-term profits.

Many of the undesirable impacts of human activities derive from the operations of private sector companies to meet the demands of customers, who like the Governments that encourage and incentivise economic growth want the benefits of development and consumerism, but without their negative consequences. As awareness has grown of the extent to which growth, development, lifestyles and business activities are damaging the environment, reducing biodiversity, depleting natural capital and contributing to global warming and climate change, calls for environmental action have joined those for social responsibility. The need for greater environmental and social responsibility and more responsible governance has now reached such a level that most, if not all, matters before a board and corporate activities and their impacts should now be viewed through an ESG lens. Boards need to provide responsible strategic direction and ensure collective action to address common requirements, public-private collaboration, and corporate reporting is responsible.
Related stakeholder engagement, relevant corporate governance and balanced ESG approaches are also needed to create more responsible, inclusive and sustainable corporate futures and lifestyles. For some boards this might necessitate significant, if not radical, changes of priorities and a switch of focus from activities to outcomes that concerned stakeholders increasingly seek and require. This could involve developing and offering alternative and less environmentally damaging and resource intensive ways of delivering the feelings and fulfilment customers sought from previous offerings.

This book equips readers with the knowledge, insights and key capabilities to understand and practice business activities from ethical and sustainable vantage points.
In our interconnected global business environment, the impacts of business activities are under increased ethical scrutiny from a wide range of stakeholders. Written from an international perspective, this book introduces the theory and practice of ethical and sustainable business, focusing in particular on eco-environmental sustainability, intergenerational responsibilities, current disruptive technologies, and intercultural values of the business community and consumers. Written by an expert author who also brings to the fore non-Western concepts and themes, this book:
• features positive case studies, as well as transferrable and applicable key insights from such cases;
• highlights the importance of taking cultural differences into account;
• takes a transdisciplinary approach which considers findings from research fields including conceptual and empirical business ethics, behavioral economics, ecological economics, environmental ethics, and the philosophy of culture;
• weaves in pedagogical features throughout, including up-to-date case studies, study questions, thought experiments, links to popular movies, and key takeaways.
Written in an accessible and student-friendly manner, this book will be of great interest to students of business ethics, environmental ethics, applied ethics, and sustainable development, as well as business practitioners striving toward ethical, sustainable, and responsible business practice.

Given the uprising interest in the environmental responsibility issues among small businesses, the purpose of this paper is to design to probe into the relationship between stakeholders’ influence and environmental responsibility of Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs), and its consequent outcomes in an emerging economy. A sample of 110 MSME owners participated in this study. Data were collected by means of questionnaire designed to measure the 12 constructs of focus. In order to test the hypotheses and examine the relationships proposed in the research framework, structural equation modelling was performed using SmartPLS. This study revealed that among the primary stakeholders, only employees and customers significantly influenced environmental responsibility practices of MSMEs. Besides, it was found that environmental responsibility results in financial improvements and better relations with employees and customers. This study is limited to MSMEs in Malaysia. Despite the relatively low response rate, which is common in MSME research, the geographic and sector distribution of samples provides a basis for generalizability of the results. Since many MSME owners/managers are sceptical about the benefits of environmental practices, the findings of this study provided empirical support from an emerging economy about the positive outcomes of environmental practices. By examining the key determinants that foster environmental practices in MSMEs, the current study provides important insights for policy makers to encourage MSMEs to initiate such responsible practices, which can lead to environmental preservation. Other than enriching a systems-based view of firms’ environmental behaviour, this study empirically tests a research framework on role of stakeholders in determining environmental responsibility of small firms and their outcomes on firms’ performance.

Given the absence of a comprehensive regulatory framework, international recommendations and best practices on corporate responsibility in the area of climate change are emerging. Due to their financial materiality, climate change risks have recently gained widespread recognition by international organizations and financial regulators. Accordingly, sound corporate governance requires companies to have regard to climate change issues. The authors propose the term ‘Corporate Climate Responsibility’ to frame various trends in legal doctrine and market developments.

Stakeholder paradigm has been gaining currency over the past few decades and technological breakthroughs have been influential in building its momentum. Hyper-Transparency is emerging as a building block and as an indispensable concomitant of stakeholder paradigm. The crux of a Hyper-Transparent organization is trust. The new paradigm requires substituting translucent and opaque business practices with fully transparent ones under which lasting trust can be built between the organization and its stakeholders. However, the nub of the stakeholder paradigm is the changes inside the organizations as well as changes in relation to their external environment, and transparency is both a driver and a resultant of these changes. Transparency is an integral part of corporate social responsibility debate and an eristic issue for the stakeholders. Moreover, Hyper-Transparency empowers the stakeholders to considerably influence the decision making sphere. In this chapter, transparency, its drivers and tools as well as the power of stakeholders in the new age of Hyper Transparency alongside a number of case studies are presented.

Human activities continue to degrade the natural environment in myriad ways, and at the heart of the problem is industrial activity—the extraction of resources, production, transportation, and use of goods, and the eventual disposal or recycling of materials. Yet, opportunities exist to engage industrial activity in creative, strategic ways that will actively improve the natural environment and help restore it to a state that can sustain human and non-human life into the future. This dissertation is intended to be a step toward that future by progressing our understanding in three separate but related topics in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR). In the first chapter, I re-envision what is meant by ‘green business.’ Although the literature on business strategy and the environment frequently discusses whether, why, and when companies profit from ‘greenness,’ surprisingly little has been said—and no consensus has been reached—on what businesses can do that counts as ‘green.’ Despite the growing importance of environmental concerns to managers, stakeholders, and policymakers, the lack of a structured and practical definition of green business leaves well-intentioned entrepreneurs and corporate environmental managers without useful guidance on how best to make environmentally-relevant business decisions. In this chapter, therefore, I propose a new definition for ‘greenness,’ which states that it is the net balance of the environmental consequences caused by an activity that determines whether or not the activity is ‘net green.’ To demonstrate the usefulness of the definition, I apply it to four case studies centered on pollution control and prevention activities, which seem prima facie green. Some of these activities turn out not to be net green after all; for others, the green intuition is correct, but with caveats. The core outcome of the first chapter is that one of the most important factors determining whether an activity results in net environmental improvement damage centers on the concept of ‘displaced production.’ The second chapter, therefore, analyzes the displaced production mechanism in the context of recycling, and develops a methodology to estimate displacement rate. The typical assumption made in environmental assessments of product systems that include recycling is that secondary materials displace primary equivalents on a one-to-one basis. However, displaced production is a complex phenomenon governed by market mechanisms and the one-to-one displacement assumption was heretofore untested. Chapter two advances the understanding of displacement by presenting a displacement rate estimation methodology based on partial equilibrium market modeling. First, I develop a basic market model that explains the underlying price mechanisms of displaced production and identifies key parameters affecting displacement rate. Results from the basic model suggest that one-to-one displacement occurs only under specific parameter restrictions that are unlikely in a competitive commodity market. Next, the modeling methodology is demonstrated by developing an econometric model of the U.S. aluminum industry. The aluminum market model corroborates the basic model and suggests that U.S. aluminum displacement rates are likely to be below 100%. The third chapter shifts focus from what a business can do to be sustainable to the more common question in environmental strategy of why a firm would want to be socially and environmentally sustainable. One explanation posited in the literature is that corporate social responsibility leads to higher employee satisfaction, which increases worker productivity and profitability. Yet, empirical evidence for the relationship between CSR and satisfaction is scarce. Using a novel dataset, in this chapter I test this relationship for 3121 U.S. firms from 1998-2012 and find that companies’ performance in six out of seven CSR dimensions can explain whether they are rated by their employees as one of the best places to work in the country. I disaggregate the seven CSR dimensions into 44 individual CSR measures, and from those identify ten measures that are most likely to affect employee satisfaction—six areas in which to improve (employee ownership plans, family benefits, gay and lesbian policies, charitable giving, conscientious labor rights, and product innovation) and four areas in which to reduce negative impacts (toxic emissions, workforce reductions, poor labor rights, and deceptive marketing). This dissertation contributes to the literature in industrial ecology and life cycle assessment by clarifying the displacement mechanism and suggesting improved ways to estimate displacement rate, as well as to the business strategy and the environment literature by crystalizing what is meant by ‘green business’ and furthering our understanding of how CSR is likely to increase firms’ economic success.

Maritime shipping is integral to the global economy. Over 80 per cent of traded goods travel by ship. While states and
the International Maritime Organization (IMO) have stalled in the regulation of the environmental impacts of ocean
transit, new private ‘green shipping’ initiatives are emerging. These are supported by powerful corporate actors, in particular
the largest container shipping customers – multinational brand retail companies. As debated in the private governance
literature, this can be both a global governance opportunity and a worrying trend. This article traces the importance of retail power in influencing the rise of private environmental governance in shipping as a business strategy for market certainty and advantage. In evaluating the implications for the architecture and effectiveness of the regime, the article argues that the well-established, focal authority of the IMO offers it the potential to orchestrate ‘green shipping’ private initiatives alongside international efforts to spur policy innovation, coordination and state regulatory cooperation. In conclusion, the article offers guidance to the IMO on the importance but also caution in governing private governance to ensure, as Susan Strange appealed for almost four decades ago, the management of maritime shipping in the public interest and not just for private benefit.

Multinational Corporations are present in virtually every corner of the world, generating not only economic growth but foremost human rights abuses linked to environmental degradation. In view of this, the United Nations Human Rights Council mandated an intergovernmental working group to draft a binding instrument on business and human rights, potentially drawing obligations for private commercial entities with a transnational character. In that context, an analysis of the ongoing negotiations will be conducted to identify and discuss the environmental law dimensions embedded therein. A dialogue between the content of the travaux préparatoires of the treaty's drafting process-including the official reports of the three sessions and other relevant documents-and the evolution of international corporate environmental accountability, will yield some possible pathways for environmental protection linked to human rights. Furthermore, special importance will be given to discussions with respect to the obligations of corporations and its implications for the protection of the environment. Some findings will show that the current state of negotiations falls short in reflecting environmental dimensions from a legal perspective, although the tools that might be developed in the process could be moulded as to integrate them in forthcoming negotiations.

Given the absence of a comprehensive regulatory framework, international recommendations and best practices on corporate responsibility in the area of climate change are emerging. Due to their financial materiality, climate change risks have recently gained widespread recognition by international organizations and financial regulators. Accordingly, sound corporate governance requires companies to have regard to climate change issues. The authors propose the term ‘Corporate Climate Responsibility’ to frame various trends in legal doctrine and market developments.

Responsible business leadership involves responsibilities, challenges and opportunities. Responsible business leaders need to engage with younger generations upon whom the future of mankind depends. They need to open up to them and engage, involve and trust them. They need to inspire them by articulating challenges and opportunities in terms of causes that capture their imaginations and motivate them.

Responsible business leaders need to be role models of more socially responsible leadership. They need to pass on the batons of creative enterprise, inspired entrepreneurship and more inclusive capitalism. They need to build the cultures and working and learning environments and put in place the mechanisms and models that will allow younger generations to use current and future innovations, their time and natural resources wisely.

Speech delivered by Prof Colin Coulson-Thomas on 17th January 2019 in the ballroom of the Hotel Taj Lands End, Mumbai, India at the 13th International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility.

Our futures and those of our companies are not assured. Unsustainable growth, lifestyles and business activities are damaging the environment, reducing biodiversity, depleting natural capital and contributing to global warming and climate change. More holistic and integrated strategies that embrace both CSR initiatives and overall business activities are now required. In particular, CSR perspectives and strategies need to embrace supply and value chains where the bulk of the negative externalities of many companies arise.

Responsible board leadership, innovation, enterprise and capitalism should be about creating sustainable options that are possible, affordable and desirable. Corporate purpose, vision, values, goals and objectives should be sustainable, aligned and consistent with the strategies, policies and behaviours to achieve them. Opportunities abound in areas such as recycling, reuse, recovery and climate change adaptation and mitigation. We can re-orientate, reinvent and re-purpose to grasp them.

Directors can play a vital role as instigators, enablers and supporters of exploration, innovation and entrepreneurship. These activities are crucial for tackling existential challenges and transitioning to more sustainable operations and lifestyles. We can create new life choices not just for avatars in a metaverse, but for real people here and now. Addressing shared existential challenges and creating a sustainable future could represent a common purpose that unifies the interests of a wider range of stakeholders. It could enable mutually beneficial collaborative and collective responses.

A speech on Board Leadership for Strategizing CSR Initiatives and Social Purpose to the 16th International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility on 3rd June 2022.

There are four crimes against peace mentioned in the Rome Statute, 1998, which came into force in 2002. These crimes are Genocide, under Article 6; Crime against Humanity, under Article 7; and War Crime and Crime of Aggression, both under Article 8 of Part II. The fifth crime that should have ideally found mention in it is Ecocide. [...] Given the fact that almost entire India is badly affected by our constant assault on environment, resulting in massive destruction and a colossal loss to our ecosystem, it is high time India came up with an effective ecocide law.

ÖZ
Bu çalışmanın amacı Türkiye‟de 1980‟den bugüne çevreci örgütlerin değişimini incelemektir. Çalışmada,
Türkiye‟deki çevreci örgütlerin çeşitliliğini ve otuz yıllık süre içinde geçirdiği dönüşümü analiz etmek üzere Batı
Avrupa ülkeleri örneğinde uygulanmış bir model kullanılmıştır. Kaynak hareketliliği ve politik etkinlik temelinde
geliştirilen sınıflandırma dört kategoriden, Kamu Yararına Lobi, Katılımcı Baskı Grubu, Profesyonel Protesto
Örgütü ve Katılımcı Protesto Örgütü oluşmaktadır. Dörtlü sınıflandırma ve Eleştirel Sosyal Bilim metodolojisi
çerçevesinde Türkiye‟deki çevreci örgütlerle ilgili literatür taranmıştır. Çevreci örgütlerde uzun süre profesyonel ve
gönüllü olarak çalışmış 10 kişi ile görüşme yapılmıştır. Ayrıca, önde gelen çevre örgütlerinden beşinin internet
sitesi içerik analizi ile incelenmiştir.
Araştırma sonucuna göre 1980-2000 döneminde çevreci örgütler merkezde ve yerelde Katılımcı Baskı
Grubu niteliğindeyken, 2000 sonrasında merkezde Kamu Yararına Lobi‟ye ve yerelde Katılımcı Protesto
Örgütü‟ne dönüşmeye başlamıştır. Greenpeace Akdeniz ise bir istisna olarak Profesyonel Protesto Örgütü olarak
etkinliklerini gerçekleştirmektedir. Bu değişim Türkiye‟nin küresel kapitalizme dahil olma sürecinde uygulanan
neoliberal kalkınma politikaları ile paralellik göstermektedir.
Anahtar Sözcükler: Çevrecilik, Çevreci Örgütler, Sivil Toplum Kuruluşları, Profesyonelleşme,
Protestolar

ABSTRACT
This study aims to analyse the transformation of environmental organizations in Turkey in last 30 years.
This study analyses the diversity and transformation of environmental organizations in last thirty years
with the classification tool of Diani and Donati (1999) that is used for Western European countries. The
classification is based on political affinity and resource efficacy and has four categories as ideal types; Public
Interest Group, Participative Pressure Group, Professional Protest Organization and Participatory Protest
Organization. Within the Critical Social Science approach, literature on environmental organizations in Turkey was
reviewed. Then, ten interviews were realized with professional or volunteer environmentalists worked for NGOs
more than five years. Lastly, content analysis of internet sites of five leading environmental NGOs in Turkey was
realized.
This research shows the strong tendency of the transformation of Participative Pressure Groups of 1980-
2000 period into Public Interest Lobbies in national scale and Participative Protest Groups in local after 2000.
Greenpeace Mediterranean presents an exception as the only Professional Protest Organization in Turkey. This
transformation is parallel with neoliberal development policies generated in the adaptation process of Turkey to
global capitalism.
Keywords: Environmentalism, Environmental Organizations, NGOs, Professionalization, Protests

The increased awareness of public opinion regarding the impact of economic activities on the environment and the growing pressure from stakeholders, as well as the regulations implemented by national and international bodies, are pushing companies to integrate ecological issues into their business agenda through a CSR strategy. This research aims to understand the impact of CSR strategies on loyalty and purchase intention, taking into account the effect of greenwashing as well as the different motivations of consumers. In order to shed light on this issue, we conducted an online survey for university students aged 15 to 24. The survey, in which 264 responses were recorded, shows that the majority of respondents intend to buy green products and are loyal to green brands. Our results reveal that the source of motivation for green consumption is related to altruistic values rather than selfish values. It was also found that the skeptical attitudes of respondents towards eco-labels and CSR activities did not have a negative impact on their purchase intention, willingness to pay more, and brand loyalty.

More than 8.6 billion kilograms of glyphosate have been used worldwide since the 1970s. Herbicide tolerant crops became the lynchpin of the technological revolution for large-scale farming first in the United States and Canada, and now in Europe. Zero-till farming, as a production scheme and a world view, is based on simplifications pro- moted by a handful of transnational corporations with the complicity of politicians looking for easy solutions for prob- lems, such as climate change, erosion and the hunger in the world. At the same time, the massive use of glyphosate is branded as an endocrine disrupter, causing cancer, male ste- rility and infertility. It interferes with soil bacteria and acts on the equilibrium of soil fungi. Glyphosate resistant crops connect farmers to far away consumers ingesting the food they grow together with the traces of chemicals. Farmers intra-act with the myriads of life-forms of the soil eco-sys- tem. How do they perceive the life in the soil, when they spray chemicals? The article explores the political dimen- sions of the agency of both humans and non-humans to understand the effects of the modernizing project of zero-till, as well as to identify spaces and scales of possibility from where alternatives can emerge.

The paper focuses on the exploration of the different Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies that are employed by the headquarters and the subsidiaries of various multinational companies (MNCs). In order to do so, a research study is done on six multinational companies of different sectors from 4 headquarters and 2 subsidiaries. This study involves the design and structure of the management systems of the CSR in the headquarters and the subsidiaries and the differences and similarities between them. In order to complete the study, qualitative research method is used. Moreover, this study makes use of interviews and online sources or online publications to collect data and then organize them into results.

Green ICT Policy encompasses the frameworks an organization has developed and put in place to apply environmental sustainability criteria throughout its value chain. The lack of appropriate green policy alignment to application of ICT uptake challenges the reaping of the benefits often stated of ICT. Multiple case study design with case from different sectors of the economy selected based on information richness, accessibility, size as well as diversity in application of ICT was employed. Triangulation of data collection and findings interpretation was utilised. The study established that green ICT policy maturity was very low. In effect, calling for purposed policy set up on green ICT application by developing nations to ensure ICT benefits are realised while limiting environmental degradation.

Bu çalışmanın temel amacı, işletmelerin ürün ve süreçleri ile kirlenmesine katkıda bulundukları çevreyi korumaya ve kollamaya yönelik olarak gerçekleştirdikleri faaliyetleri ortaya çıkararak, bu faaliyetlerin sosyal sorumluluk açısından bir değerlendirmesini yapabilmektir. Çalışmanın ilk kısmında "çevresel vatandaşlık" kavramı açıklanmakta, ardından, Türk Tekstil Sanayiinde gerçekleştirilen bir araştırmanın yöntem ve bulguları özetlenmektedir. Araştırmanın bulgularına göre, Türk Tekstil Sanayiindeki işletmeler, kendi isteklerinden çok, sanayideki ve hukuki düzenlemelerdeki zorunluluklar çerçevesinde çevresel vatandaşlık faaliyetlerine önem vermektedirler.

This study focuses on why some companies in developing countries go beyond environmental regulations when implementing their corporate environmental social responsibilities or citizenship behavior. Drawing mainly upon the new institutional theory, this study develops a conceptual framework to explain three institutional factors: companies’ market orientations, industrial characteristics, and corporate identities. Accordingly, we suggest that companies from developing countries that are oriented to markets in developed countries, operate in highly concentrated industries, and have missionary identities adopt corporate environmental citizenship behavior by going beyond environmental regulations. The study also discusses the theoretical, policy, and managerial implications of the conceptual framework.

Multinational Corporations are present in virtually every corner of the world, generating not only economic growth but foremost human rights abuses linked to environmental degradation. In view of this, the United Nations Human Rights Council mandated an intergovernmental working group to draft a binding instrument on business and human rights, potentially drawing obligations for private commercial entities with a transnational character. In that context, an analysis of the on-going negotiations will be conducted to identify and discuss the environmental law dimensions embedded therein. A dialogue between the content of the travaux preparatoires of the treaty’s drafting process including the official reports of the three sessions and other relevant documents and the evolution of international corporate environmental accountability, will yield some possible pathways for environmental protection linked to human rights. Furthermore, special importance will be given to discussions with r...

The marine plastics crisis sparked a wave of corporate interest in the circular economy, a sustainable business model that aims to eliminate waste in industrial systems through re- cycling, reduction, reuse, and recovery. Drawing on debates about the role of corporations in global environmental governance, this article examines the rise of the circular economy as a dominant corporate sustainability concept, focusing on the flagship example of the circular economy for plastics. It argues that corporations across the plastics value chain have coordinated their efforts to contain the circular economy policy agenda, while extend- ing their markets through developing risky circular economy technologies. These corporate strategies of containment and proliferation represent attempts to “future-proof” capitalism against existential threats to public legitimacy, masking the implications for environ- mental justice. The paradox of the circular economy is that it seems to offer radical challenges to linear “take-make-waste” models of industrial capitalism, backed by international legislation, but it does not actually give up on unsustainable growth. We need to tackle the plastics crisis at its root, dramatically reducing the global production of toxic and wasteful plastics.

This paper addresses the safety culture as a concept in the context of digital fabrication. The aim of the paper is to provide a basis for the understanding and adoption of safety culture in digital fabrication, makerspaces and fab labs. The paper outlines the concept of safety culture in digital fabrication through three dimensions of safety culture: professional, social, and environmental responsibilities. We propose that these dimensions can act as motivators in adopting a correct safety behavior in the context of digital fabrication education.

The objective of this study is to focus on corporate activities conducted to protect
and preserve the environment, and to evaluate these activities with respect to social
responsibility in a developing country setting. This study also tries to find out whether
corporations take part in these activities due to social expectations and legal obligations
or due to their own social awareness. The data was collected from Turkey, which
is a good example of a developing country with its economic situation. Corporations
from the automotive, pharmaceutical and textile industries were studied, as the products
and the process of production of these industries pose a threat to the environment.
The research findings show that in adopting environmental citizenship policies
corporations are more influenced by ‘obligatory regulations’ coming from institutional
forces than by ‘voluntary regulations’ coming from their own social awareness.
Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Given the absence of a comprehensive regulatory framework, international recommendations and best practices on corporate responsibility in the area of climate change are emerging. Due to their financial materiality, climate change risks have recently gained widespread recognition by international organizations and financial regulators. Accordingly, sound corporate governance requires companies to have regard to climate change issues. The authors propose the term ‘Corporate Climate Responsibility’ to frame various trends in legal doctrine and market developments.

Most, if not all, matters before a board, from corporate purpose, objectives and priorities to corporate activities and their impacts, should now be viewed through an ESG lens. Strategic direction and corporate policies should encompass a widening circle of arenas previously considered as ‘external’, such as the environment. Corporate purpose, vision, values, goals and objectives must be sustainable, aligned and consistent with the strategies, policies and behaviours to achieve them. 

Activities that damage ecosystems, reduce bio-diversity, deplete scarce natural capital and contribute to global warming are sometimes hidden or tolerated. They may also be described and reported as ‘profitable’. Directors who do not challenge such practices are morally responsible. In time they may become legally liable for consequential harm to the environment and current and future generations.

ESG and responsible business is more than scaling back damaging activities, unsustainable operations and negative consequences. ESG is about opportunity and responsible innovation, enterprise and capitalism. It is about creating new options and choices for stakeholders to live and operate more sustainably and in harmony with the natural world.

A speech on ESG and Existential Challenges and Corporate and Collective Opportunities to the India CSR ESG Summit held on 31st May 2022

Corporate activities are polluting the environment, degrading bio-systems, reducing biodiversity, over-exploiting scarce natural capital, contributing to global warming, accelerating climate change and damaging the life chances of future generations. There is an urgent need for innovation and action to tackle, prevent and reverse multiple and inter-related negative externalities, change our priorities and practices, switch to simpler, healthier and more fulfilling lifestyles and achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals. CSR should support responsible leadership and the collaborations needed to achieve the re-purposing, re-thinking, re-prioritisation, re-shaping and re-invention of activities, lifestyles and communities required and the re-deployment of resources and capabilities involved.

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been widely investigated, but a generally accepted theoretical framework does not yet exist. This paper argues that the idiosyncrasies of large firms and SMEs explains the different approaches to CSR, and that the notion of social capital is a more useful way of understanding the CSR approach of SMEs, whereas stakeholder theory more closely addresses the CSR approach of large firms. Based on the extant literature, we present a comparison of large firm and SME idiosyncrasies suggesting that both consolidated and emerging strategic orientations toward responsible behaviours exist. Idiosyncrasies of large firms and SMEs are also discussed to provide an assessment of the firm’s strategic CSR orientation, suggesting the key drivers upon which CSR strategies must be based. A twofold consideration emerges. First, the CSR–SME relationship could be better explained if the notion of social capital is taken into account, but this should also be accompanied by a stakeholder view of the SME; second, social capital and stakeholder theory should be taken as alternative ways of explaining CSR in both large firms and SMEs.

This paper deals with a very important subject for both developed and developing countries, one that has yet to be thoroughly analyzed from an environmental perspective: corporate social responsibility. Our analysis is highly relevant in our current context, given the increasing pressures exerted by companies on the environment as a result of their economic activities. Furthermore, another element that makes this study up-to-date is the fact that more and more companies have started to pay attention to the concept of corporate social responsibility and have begun to take responsibility for these pressures and act towards reducing them, whether out of voluntary compliance or forced by market conditions or regulatory bodies. The present study is a historical descriptive-analytic investigation of the concept of corporate social responsibility and its environmental component. The aim of the research is to create a historical analysis of this concept and its environmental aspects at the international level, presenting at the same time the various organizations and programs involved in its development and in the actions, that help implement it. The social responsibility of companies, also known as corporate social responsibility (CSR) or, in French, responsabilité sociétale des entreprises (RSE), is a fundamental component of the broader concept of social responsibility. There is no unanimously accepted version for the birth of this notion or its first proposed definitions. In time, the importance of CSR has steadily grown, and it became the focus of attention not just for theoreticians and companies, but also for international organizations, such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations (UN), the Global Compact Program, the ISO 26000 Social Responsibility Standard or the European Union. We can thus say that a new stage began for the evolution of corporate social responsibility, where the most important aspects are the planning and subsequent implementation of its underlying concepts. Corporate social responsibility received significant attention from international organizations, and this served as a strong incentive for the business environment to adopt the concept. From an environmental standpoint, corporate social responsibility is becoming increasingly important, due to the pressures exerted by companies on the natural world. At an international level, most major corporations have accepted the principle of the responsibility that they have towards society for the environmental impact generated by their economic activities. This acceptance has been followed by the adoptions of internal operational policies aimed at reducing the said impact. Corporate social responsibility is not just an act of philanthropy or a fad, but a very serious behavior which should serve as a foundation for the actions of a corporation and that will naturally lead to long-term profits. This paper deals with a very important subject for both developed and developing countries, one that has yet to be thoroughly analyzed from an environmental perspective: corporate social responsibility. Our analysis is highly relevant in the current context, given the increasing pressures exerted by companies

This paper deals with a very important subject for both developed and developing countries that has yet to be thoroughly analyzed from an environmental perspective: corporate social responsibility. Our analysis is highly relevant in our current context, given the increasing pressures exerted by companies on the environment as a result of their economic activities. Furthermore, another element that makes this study up-to-date is the fact that more and more companies have started to pay attention to the concept of corporate social responsibility and have begun to take responsibility for these pressures and act towards reducing them, whether out of voluntary compliance or forced by market conditions or regulatory bodies. The present study is a historical descriptive-analytic investigation of the concept of corporate social responsibility and its environmental component. The aim of the research is to create a historical analysis of this concept and its environmental aspects at both nati...

Topic: This paper reports on our experiences in running a pilot ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) project that addresses the issue of 'sustainable growth' by engaging SME owners and managers in facilitated workshop discussions on this important, yet highly contested topic. If the UK and other countries are to meet their carbon reduction obligations, it is clear that SMEs will need to make significant, and in some cases radical changes, not only in terms of their day-today operational practices but also in their longer-term trajectories. However, policymakers face substantial obstacles in communicating with this audience, including: the scale and diversity of the SME population, competing priorities, competitive pressures and resource constraints. This project combines published research on SMEs, their growth processes and environmental behaviours, with specialist expertise in SME engagement and climate change communication.

Aim: The multi-partner collaboration is designed to co-create new knowledge on environmentally sustainable growth in SMEs. Its primary aim is to help SMEs and intermediaries gain a better understanding of sustainable growth and its implications for their businesses. The team designed and trialled an innovative approach engagement, based on facilitated workshop discussions, creating an initial evidence base that will be coupled with a set of practical recommendations. The project builds on the academic and external partners' complementary research insights into SMEs, organisational growth, climate change communication, energy use and associated policy-making. By incorporating the expertise of the practical insights of practitioners and intermediary organisations, the project seeks to initiate a vigorous knowledge exchange about the conceptualisation and practical application of sustainable growth.

Methodology: Prior to engaging with SMEs, the team conducted a review of the literature on sustainable growth, which informed the engagement phase of the project. We also conducted a small survey of SME owners and managers and engaged in an informal consultation with stakeholders that informed the design and contents of the pilot workshops. Two half-day workshops were organised with SME owner and manager participants, facilitated by the communications specialists, Climate Outreach, and drawing on previous engagement projects with hard to reach groups. The workshops provided a forum for participants to engage in grounded, 'peer to peer' discussion about sustainable growth, expressed in their own terms and drawing on their own values and narratives. Audio recording of the workshops provided the basis for a thematic analysis, which has been combined with the other sources to construct this working paper.

Contribution: The project is generating new insights into SME perspectives on sustainable growth that are grounded in relevant theory and evidence, coupled with practical tools that will be of value to practitioners and policymakers. The project team has also developed audiovisual resources, which will be used to raise awareness and help to provide the foundations for future engagement activity. The aim of the next phase of the project is to further refine this approach to engagement in the form of a more fully developed 'toolkit' and associated resources.