CSR: are you a sapling, shrub, poplar or oak?
The Pacte Act and its raison d’être, socially responsible investment, extra-financial reporting, questions surrounding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)… CSR issues are shaking up the corporate world, echoing growing societal demand for more ethics, loyalty, concern for the common good… and less greenwashing. After ten years of supporting more than 800 VSEs, SMEs and local authorities, the AFNOR group has published an overview of what organizations claiming to be committed to social responsibility are doing. This study gathers the findings of 408 interviews, conducted this autumn by telephone and via an online questionnaire, with the support of the BVA institute and in partnership with Les Echos Executives.
ISO 26000, the best-known reference text
” Our study is based on the premise that economic players can no longer bury their heads in the sand: they can no longer sidestep the debate on social responsibility: they have to get to grips with these issues, or risk losing the trust of their stakeholders. We wanted to see how those who share this conviction went about it “says Olivier Peyrat, Managing Director of AFNOR.
Whether or not they have been awarded the Engagé RSE label by AFNOR Certification, these organizations of all sizes and from all sectors shared the CSR actions they are undertaking, the tools they are using to promote their commitment, with ISO 26000 as their primary tool, and the difficulties and benefits they are experiencing. ” Studies on CSR are legion; ours, thanks to a solid sample, has the merit of classifying respondents into four large families according to the age of their approach and the diversity of the actions they take on the subject: the young shoots, the shrubs, the poplars and the oaks. It’s up to you to decide where you fit in! “says Karine Georges, head of research at AFNOR.
