Commission seeks views on CSR achievements

The European Commission is seeking stakeholders’ views about the impact of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy over the past three years and on the role it should play in the future.

The Commission’s 2011-14 CSR Strategy set an ambitious agenda to strengthen its implementation at international level and created a number of models on how to practically implement its principles. CSR is becoming a tool for companies to improve competitiveness. Encouraging social and environmental responsibility in the corporate sector can also bring benefits such as cost reductions, access to capital, improved customer relationships, human resource management, and innovation capacity.

Michel Barnier, acting European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said: “CSR is not just about protecting stakeholders or the value of an enterprise through compliance with ethical or other standards. It is also, and increasingly, about creating new value through the innovation that comes from challenging a company’s status quo and looking for better solutions.”

The consultation is also asking for feedback on how successful the Commission’s actions have been in enhancing market reward for CSR, further integrating CSR in education, training and research, and better aligning European and global approaches to CSR avoiding red tape, in particular for SMEs.

Barnier added: “We look forward to receiving stakeholders’ valuable feedback on our CSR agenda and on their expectations for the future.”

An online questionnaire will be open for contributions until 15 August.