Mandate Corporate Social Responsibility reporting now

Corporations, often more than governments, are today’s dominant institution. They feature in all aspects of social, political and economic life – private and public, business and non-business, large and small enterprises.

As the size and influence of corporations grows, the framework and effectiveness of corporate governance regimes assumes wide ranging socio-economic and political impacts. Inappropriate and outdated approaches to corporate governance including structural incentives for corporations to not take into account the interests of stakeholders and to ignore externalities will, and has, undermined our quality of life and eroded economic growth in the long term.

Below is a paper on Corporate Social Responsibility. In it I argue that the Australian Government should  mandate that companies report on their environmental and social impact, ideally utilising the Global Reporting Index framework and other complementary schemes such as the Carbon Disclosure Project.

The GRI has established itself as a legitimate and widely supported mechanism for engagement with stakeholders. The adoption of the GRI, or some variation by the Australian Government to enforce, or otherwise coerce, sustainability reporting, will be a key indicator of the mainstreaming of the corporate responsibility agenda in the coming years. If corporations do not implement CSR reporting, or fail to demonstrate they are actively considering environmental and social risks as well as stakeholder concerns in determining the interest of the company, it will be necessary for the Australian Government to provide a clear articulation of CSR within the Corporations Act.

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