| “Corporate social responsibility” is the commitment of companies to behave ethically and to make a contribution to sustainable, economic development, so that the lives of all relevant stakeholders are improved through cooperation." |
Sustainability
One of the first and most important global initiatives, which asked leading private sector companies as central partners to solve social and environmental challenges, is the United Nations Global Compact which was launched in January 1999. Today the initiative is supported by approximately 3,000 companies from 100 countries as well as employee representatives and the general public. They work together to implement the ten principles of the Global Compact concerning the areas of human rights, labor rights, the environment and anti-corruption. CSR is also stipulated as an international objective in the plan of action of the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg (2002).
In March 2005, work began in the Brazilian city of Salvador/Bahia on an international standard for social responsibility – ISO 26000. 225 experts from 43 countries and 80 people from international organizations such as ILO (Internat. Labor Organization), WHO (World Health Organization) and UNIDO, met and discussed 32 resolutions which define the framework for further work on the standard which is to be published in October 2008.
The new G3 Guidelines for sustainability reporting were presented at the meeting of the international CSR expert network, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), at the start of October 2006. As a result, members of Global Compact are in future required to produce a sustainability or CSR report that can be composed in accordance with the GRI guidelines.