What is CSR?
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are the efforts taken by a business to challenge environmental and social issues. This suggests a move away from only considering economic benefits and seeing the value in enviroenemntal and social justice/sustainability. You may have heard of the CSR pyramid, it is a popular way of introducing sustainability, especially in an academic or industry setting. It looks like this:
I won’t overwhelm you with the specific details of each layer, but the idea is that these work interconnectedly and an organisation should meet each of these to achieve CSR.
Criticisms for CSR
Before starting my masters degree, concepts like CSR were what led my sustainability thinking. I now hear the concept and immediately think of greenwashing, here’s why.
The first oxymoron of this concept is that each layer is interconnected, they do not work in isolation and therefore can influence each other, however, the very form of this diagram suggests a hierarchical perspective. Carroll (the developer of this concept) states that economic responsibilities are the foundation of a business, therefore suggesting they should be prioritised over the other three. This, in no way, represents a fair and just perspective, contradicting the core values of sustainable development where economic, social and enviroenemntal aspects are treated equally.
Second, businesses often present ‘sustainable’ actions that are ineffective, for example, carbon offsetting. This is the act of planting trees, or any other form of carbon sink, to decrease the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, with the idea that this will reverse their actions. However, many processes like this are unsuccessful as they are invasive; displacing the habitats of animals (disrupting ecosystems) and homes of Indigenous communities, and cause conflicts due to resource allocation.
Third, there is a lack of metrics to measure the progress of CSR implementation. As there is no obligation to report progress, businesses tend not to invest in measuring techniques, presenting opportunities for shortcuts and shortfalls without being held accountable. I often become sceptical of businesses who state they engage in ‘sustainable’ activities but provide no evidence for doing so, why wouldn’t you want to promote it?
Finally, I think there is a lack of understanding regarding social and environmental issues, I largely put this down to ignorance. Businesses have the facilities to analyse each stage of their processes, and if they are unable to, the answer to what to do is in front of them: change. Each and every process should be transparent to identify where negative effects are occurring. There are hundreds of actors advocating for environmental and social justice, including charities, NGOs, government parties, and businesses, however, they are often ignored, even laughed at. Furthermore, business elites will often argue the case that they treat employees fairly by giving them competitive pay, benefits, and adequate working conditions, but this is not enough. How are you going to help the Indigenous community you displaced to plant your invasive trees?
Looking Forward
The current views of corporate responsibility, social and environmental, are no longer viable to tackle the challenges Earth faces today, therefore we must think bigger and better to create an equitable Earth that won’t take away from future generations. Despite climate change being a huge risk, there are opportunities which can be embraced. For example, developing new products, entering new markets, efficient operations (cost efficiency), and localising operations to become less reliant on other economies. We can maximise our value through these pathways, rather than with economic blinkers.
What can I do?
I started this blog to encourage individuals to take responsibility for sustainability. Whilst many posts relate to government policies or business strategies (or lack of), reading about these and being aware of misinformation is imperative to be able to understand what you can do to make a positive change. So if you don’t own a business, just keep reading and spreading awareness through conversation. Also, look out for which businesses involve themselves in greenwashing and try to avoid them!
Not My Monkey 