Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to Sustainability

The Dreamliner, or Boeing 787, uses 20 percent less fuel per mile than Boeing 767.

Airbus A350 produces 90 percent less noise than what a similar plane would have done 50 years ago; it is even below the noise standards prescribed by International Civil Aviation Organization.

Thanks to improved aerodynamics and the use of lightweight composite materials, planes are becoming more fuel efficient. And thanks to newer noise-reduction technologies in engines, noise-pollution is declining.

However, on the flip side, air traffic worldwide is increasing so rapidly that global carbon dioxide emissions from aviation, which now represent just 2 to 3 percent of all CO2 pollution, could jump as high as 500 percent by 2050, according to some forecasts. And that is alarming.

From a global population of just 3 billion in 1960, to a projected 9 billion by 2050, it will be a three-fold rise in the number of human beings.In only one generation! And that is alarming.

What are the nations doing about it? Are the world’s resources enough? What about Food Security? Waste Management? Environmental Equilibrium? And, are these the only challenges ahead?

These were among the many topics I got to hear about at the 2nd Bahrain International Corporate Social Responsibility Conference held this week.

Not just in the aviation industry I mentioned earlier, but in a whole range of industries including oil, construction, petrochemicals, automobile and electronics,  the key focus of governments, businesses and individuals must now be on ‘sustainable development.’ That was the key-message from all speakers.

The famous Brundtland Report defines "Sustainable Development” as the “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

In the past, organizations took pride in their contributions to society through some financial donations, and some passive involvement in medical, educational, entertainment and sporting activities. They called it their corporate social responsibility. But now, they must focus on wider environment concerns, by strategizing all their operations with the aim of long-term sustainability.

One of the serious concerns affecting sustainability is the rapid growth of Electronic Waste.

My colleague and I presented a paper at this conference titled ‘Consumer Behaviour in E-Waste Disposal - A Case for Setting up an E-Waste Collection and Recycling Facility in Bahrain.

We presented our findings from a survey of 200 households in Bahrain, and showed how Electronic waste is accumulating in our homes, with no proper disposal systems available. 

And we recommended the setting up of an e-waste collection center that can collect and recycle part of the waste; and send a part of it outside Bahrain to e-waste treatment facilities.

Of course, it must be shipped in accordance with the UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme) Basel Convention guidelines given for transboundary movements of e-waste.

I found it interesting to note that annual reports of organizations must now, not only include CSR or sustainability work, but they must follow ‘sustainability reporting’ guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Also, GRI’s G4 guidelines – the latest – require most organizations to make up-to-date disclosures on governance, ethics and integrity, supply chain, anti-corruption and green house gas emissions.

In keeping with the global shift in perspectives, I felt that the organizers should have called it a conference on ‘Sustainability’ instead of on ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’. Somehow, CSR sounds very old now.