Brussels, 06/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - The consultation of social partners and other relevant organisations launched by Anna Diamantopoulou (Social Affairs) and Erkki Liikanen (Enterprise) on corporate social responsibility has been a great success. Afterwards, Anna Diamantopoulou announced she would be unveiling a Communication on corporate social responsibility at the beginning of July (see EUROPE of 27/28 May, p.18). With a view to business having active, targeted social responsibility policies, the Presidents of UNICE (Georges Jacob), the European Round Table of Industrialists, ERT (Gerhard Cromme) and CSR Europe (Etienne Davignon) have sent an open joint letter (for the first time ever) to the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, in which they call for the following key points to be included in the European Commission Communication: 1) the need for an approach that does not focus too strongly on European issues since corporate social responsibility is a global issue, so global practices need to be promoted, outside the EU too and also for foreign companies and investment; 2) current debate focuses too much on employer-employee relations, but responsible business conduct is multi-disciplinary so how to act ethically with regard to all business partners (social partners, public authorities, etc) should be looked into.
UNICE Director Thérèse de Liedekerke, said that in terms of the influence of public authorities in non-EU Member States, private investment in non-EU countries, particularly in the least developed countries, has grown over the past decade although co-operation development aid has slumped. She quotes the example of a European company that has opened schools in Brazil to train staff, noting that the company is investing over the long-term, and that the paradox in this debate was that people outside the company are called in to find solutions to company problems.
45% of the 250 biggest companies publish reports on their social responsibility
In Brussels, KPMG Global Sustainability Services unveiled its 2002 report into company viability, written in collaboration with Amsterdam University. It describes avant-garde companies that publish reports on social affairs, environmental and sustainable development alongside their financial statements. This is the case for 45% of the world's top 250 companies in the hit parade published by Fortune 500 magazine (as against 35% in 1999). Professor George Molenkamp (KPMG) said that the fact that multinationals are paying more attention to the social and environmental dimensions and are publishing what they've done in terms of equal opportunities and human rights, for example, is a great step forward compared with 1999. He noted a greater influence of civil society (NGOs) and greater dialogue between companies and shareholders in terms of political decisions, implying greater transparency. The report reveals that 1) the most avant-garde companies are to be found in Japan, the US, Germany, France and the UK; 2) the number of companies in the financial sector producing these reports has risen by about 60% (from 15% in 1999 to 24% in 2002); and 3) there is a new trend to produce reports on sustainability in sectors such as food and drinks, communications and the media and finance. Overall, there are now more companies than ever producing reports into environmental and social performance and sustainable development, with an increasing number getting these balance sheets assessed by independent experts.