News
International CSR-Conference by BMAS (Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs)
15./16. December 2011
“CSR is not an obligation. It is rather an expression of modern life. CSR is a matter of survival and not a matter of prosperity or luxury,” was the opening statement from Koos Richelle, the EU’s General Director for Employment, Social Affairs and Integration.
Political, business and civil representatives came together over two days, in order to discuss numerous aspects of CSR, mainly social and environmental structuring of globalisation and the question of how the social responsibility, especially of small and mid-sized companies, can be promoted. The voluntary aspect of CSR, not to be confused with randomness or arbitrariness, was stressed repeatedly. The foundation was laid by the “National Strategy for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)” decided by the German Federal Government in the autumn of 2010, its “Action Plan for CSR.” The CSR strategy is in the context of the European Union’s long-term strategy, “Europe 2020.”
Integrating social commitment in the core business, a multi-stakeholder approach as well as reports and the establishment of worldwide standards were the subjects of the presentations and podium discussions. All those involved stressed the importance of the subject matter and declared their willingness to further develop the role of CSR in Germany. CSR is especially important in times of financial and commercial crisis in order to rebuild trust in the economy and ultimately, it is the consumer who votes on the success of a given company’s CSR.
