The European Union has finally published its communication on corporate social responsibility, and the job of explaining what it means for business, both for those who operate solely in the UK and those operating internationally can now begin. Such ‘explanation’ can’t be done in isolation and there are two areas to pick up. How does this relate to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and what about life after the Operating and Financial Review (OFR)?
July will be the first anniversary of the introduction of the Communications on Progress of the UNGC and the various guidance documents produced last year are helpful. But what is missing is the rejoinder about how long it takes to gather the type of information and the variety of medium in which it will arrive – from video to spreadsheet. For those who are existing signatories they have until the end of the year, but new signatories, of course, are expected to produce their communication by July. The key to all this is early communication around the business if you really want to produce something that will inspire other business units and also support the goals of the compact.
As for the OFR, we shall wait and see what the consultation gives rise to, but I guess innovation and a lack of standard reporting will continue to rule. The differences between the OFR and the EU Modernisation Directive are not as great as they first seem and whilst the latter is less prescriptive, all the main components seem to have survived.
Within the environmental context the focus is really on climate change and with UK Environment Week less than two months away, planning on how to mark this occasion needs to be completed shortly. The Environment Agency pledge last year was appealing in its simplicity and focus on personal responsibility, but a step-change in the response will be looked for this year. In the South East, the drought orders have also brought into focus how much water office-based businesses consume. There is plenty of scope to focus on the business impacts of staff behavioural change as well as the structural changes that take longer to achieve. If you haven’t looked at it before there are a number of free web-based resources to help. The Environment Agency as already mentioned and some of the campaign groups, such as Friends of the Earth, have good briefings about global environmental issues.
Of course the same week is UK Volunteering Week and ideally we will combine this with an environmental campaign. If we can encourage environmental volunteering then we can hit both targets and deliver durable change in the business. There is plenty of support for both key milestones available from government and the third sector.
Finally the Russell Commission have their launch on May 8 and so volunteering will be back in the news then. A fair number of businesses have now signed up as supporters but there is still time to get involved.
MIke Kelly is head of CSR at KPMG LLP (UK). He writes The Practitioner column every month, previewing key upcoming events.
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