A regional corporate social responsibility (CSR) platform for Asean countries was launched on Wednesday at the International Singapore Compact CSR Summit, reflecting a growing acceptance by businesses of CSR practices in the region.
Launching the platform at the two-day event held at Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore Compact for CSR president Olivia Lum said that Asean has recognised the importance of CSR “not just to achieve the socio cultural objectives of the community but also to drive other ASEAN goals”.
The platform will be a repository of regional knowledge on CSR, help build capacity in CSR in the region and promote CSR practices, said Singapore Compact for CSR in a statement.
CSR is widely defined as a company’s commitment to responsible business practices to support sustainable development.
It involves companies being accountable, building relationships with not just shareholders but with all stakeholders: customers, employees and their families and the communities in which they operate.
“Singapore Compact is pleased to support this regional initiative. We are honoured to host the first secretariat of this Network. We are committed to the growth of CSR… and we will try to make our modest contributions together with our partners,” said Ms Lum, who is also the President and Managing Director of homegrown water technology firm Hyflux.
The Singapore-based network will also develop a model public policy or legal document on CSR for Asean
members to refer to by 2010. This will be guided by the new ISO 26000 titled “Guidance on Social Responsibility”.
The network will also engage the private sector to support the CSR-related activities of the Asean Foundation, and encourage the adoption and implementation of international standards on CSR, said Singapore Compact.
It will also be tasked with increasing awareness of CSR in Asean, looking in particular at the relationships between commercial activities and communities where they are located. Even the most sensitive issues of human rights and anti-corruption are on the table for discussion at the Asean CSR Network, added Singapore Compact.
Singapore Compact said that its membership grew by 42 per cent over the past year to more than 300 today - reflecting the growth in awareness of CSR as a business concern.
The past 12 months have also seen a rise in sustainability reporting using the Global Reporting Initiative’s reporting framework– from none in 2007 to one in 2008 and more than 20 at present, it noted.
A second edition of a book was also launched at the summit today. Called “Socially Responsible and Sustainable – Company Perspectives and Experiences”, it features the successful CSR journeys of 10 companies.
These 10 companies are: CapitaLand, ComfortDelGro Corporation, Fairmont Singapore, Keppel Land,
ORIGIN Exterminators, Philips Electronics, Senoko Energy, Sin Hwa Dee Foodstuff Industries, SMRT Corporation and Wilmar International Limited.
Deputy Secretary General of NTUC, Ms Halimah Yacob, said in a statement that the lesssons learnt from the financial crisis and others such as terrorism, the energy crisis, climate change and governance issues “show that the well-being of businesses is tied up with the well-being of the community and society”.
“Businesses have to earn their licence to operate from society. Therefore they have to look beyond just being profitable to contribute to society… Society generally imposes a higher standard of behaviour and contribution of businesses from beyond providing jobs and income. Because of all these pressures, the mainstream will be that companies must not only be profitable but also provide decent jobs and have a positive environmental and social impact,” she said.
“Increasingly, we will need to use the tools and initiatives that exist globally – such as ISO 26000, Global Compact, the GRI reporting framework – to enable Singapore companies to on their CSR journey and in the process raise awareness, build capacity and share the CSR journey.”
Daniel Quek, Vice President, Group Corporate Affairs & Investor Relations at Cerebos, added that the firm believes that branding and reputation are enhanced by good CSR practices.
“We envision CSR as a continuous journey which progresses and matures as the company grows… we hope [the Summit] will help companies gain more depth of insight in to CSR and how it integrates into and helps to drive a company’s business success.”
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