Social responsibility

Social responsibility (more commonly referred to CSR) is a leading principle for the CBI. According to ISO 26000, social responsibility is the responsibility of an organisation for the impacts of our decisions and activities on society and the environment, through transparent and ethical behaviour. In the EU strategy 2011-14 for Corporate Social Responsibility, the European Commission puts forward a new definition of CSR as “the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society”.

In view of the growing importance of social responsibility and sustainable private sector development, the CBI started implementing a social responsibility roadmap in November 2009. In 2010, we used ISO 26000 to determine which issues should be addressed. ISO 26000 is a state-of-the-art international standard that provides guidance on social responsibility. The CBI prioritises four core subjects: (1) environment, (2) human rights, (3) labour rights and (4) fair operating practices. We seek to address the issues pertaining to these subjects in all our activities. In practice this means, for instance, that the core conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) are included as criteria in the audits for the selection of the companies that participate in our export coaching modules.

One of most exciting ways of fostering social responsibility at the CBI is by building a network of experts and organisations with practical knowledge on how to implement CSR policies in developing countries. The CBI facilitates network hubs on social responsibility in these countries, and supports the creation of the necessary infrastructure to enable knowledge sharing and capacity building on CSR.

The CBI provides training and coaching on social responsibility and sustainability. All programmes include at least one training on social responsibility or sustainable trade opportunities. In order to promote social responsibility among companies in developing countries and buyers in the European Union, the CBI partners with civil society organisations and governmental organisations, such as MVO Nederland, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), Return to Sender and the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH).