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Background:
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability reporting is used by companies to
inform consumers of their social and environmental values and practices beyond the
sustainability characteristics of individual product. Reporting topics include corporate
governance, environmental performance, health and safety of employees, community
contributions, and supply chain management. But the gap between corporate sustainable
reporting and most notions of sustainable consumption is still large, e.g. not many reports look at
how the company & its product range supports sustainable consumption. While many companies
have a good track record on corporate reporting, this may not necessarily match actual
sustainability practices.
This research aims at throwing light on companies supporting sustainable consumption in their
CSR activities. The focus areas in which corporate implement sustainable consumption
shall be identified and recommendations shall be given to other companies to adopt such CSR
activities.
Objective:
1. To identify corporate social responsibility initiatives of Indian companies which promote
sustainable consumption.
2. To determine the trend in which sustainable consumption activities are being executed.
Methodology:
The research will be based on secondary data. Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainability
reports of various sector specific companies in India would be analyzed. A model was developed
under which weights assigned to the companies on the basis of the area and number of
sustainable consumption practices. The model is attached under Annexure 1.
Limitations:
1. Not all sustainability reports disclose data pertaining to their CSR activities thus data is not
uniform.
2. Companies’ capacity & annual revenue are not the criteria for comparing their sustainability
report.
Scope:
This research shall give guidelines to specific sector companies who want to adopt and promote
activities related to sustainable consumption if its scope is expanded from page constraint
Literature Review:
Sustainable consumption and production first secured international prominence at the Rio Earth
Summit (UNCED) in 1992. At the 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and
Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, the Agenda 21 action plan was adopted which is a
collection of detailed goals and policies aimed at making sustainable development a reality by
eliminating poverty and by eradicating the serious threats to our global and local environment1
Sustainable Consumption is "the use of services and related products which respond to basic
needs and bring a better quality of life while minimising the use of natural resources and toxic
materials as well as the emissions of waste and pollutants over the life-cycle so as not to
jeopardise the needs of future generations."2
Sustainable consumption is a key step towards achieving sustainable development. The intrinsic
relationship between sustainable consumption and the sustainable development paradigm was
stressed in the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development which states, that:
“poverty eradication, changing consumption and production patterns, and protecting and
managing the natural resource base for economic and social development are overarching
objectives of, and essential requirements for sustainable development.”3
Sustainable Consumption is about:
• Meeting the increasing needs of people with improved environmental outcomes and more
sustainable consumption
• Using fewer resources and causing less pollution to enable human development in all parts of
the world
• Helping consumers to stimulate suppliers to be innovative, improve competition and promote
economic growth and development.4
Although companies tend to focus on sustainable consumption related activities internally but
when comes to their CSR activities or external participation they used to follow conventional
path, there are various definitions of CSR but this paper is adopting UNEP’s definition of CSR,
as mentioned in the Global Compact Environmental Principles Training package (2005):
“A values-based way of conducting business in a manner that advances sustainable development,
seeking positive impact between business operations and society, aware of the close interrelation
between business and society as well as of enterprises, like citizens, having basic rights and
duties wherever they operate.”
A company can have a good CSR record, but this does not mean that its operations and products
are sustainable, nor that sustainability is embedded into the company’s culture and decision-
making. Core to this is moving beyond an internal frame of reference, coupled with an
engagement with key stakeholders, to accept responsibility for the impact of the products and
services it sells to consumers5
To find out relations between sustainable consumption of business6 and its CSR activities
various indicators of sustainable consumption is studied7 starting with OECD indicators they
focused from angle of analyzing economies, then UNGC indicators for sustainable consumption8,
UNGC GRI indicators, Indicators of Consumption and Production Patterns (UN CSD)9, none of
them specifically looked into sustainable consumption in corporate social responsibility activities
so the following table for sustainable consumption and CSR activities is developed to analyze
trend of CSR activities in confirmation with sustainable consumption indicators, the table
consists various indicators with sub-indicators as explained below.
Material with sub indicator focuses on consumption of various input materials from
(Reduce,Reuse,Recycle) different usage aspects,
Energy focuses on reduction of energy usage within a company
water also focuses same as Indicator of Material
(Reduce,Reuse,Recycle)
fuel focus on judicial use of it
(Reduce, Treatment),
Waste (Reduce, focus on company’s varied activities related to it,
Reuse/Recover,Recycle,
Environment Friendly
Disposal )
Pollution(Air, Noise etc, focuses on activities for reducing it
GHG Gases excluded in this
indicator )
Green building focuses on green building developed by companies for their on
Product innovation and design looks for activities inline with sustainable consumption,
(Biodegradable, R&D, Green
Products)
Transport Looks for various actions to reduce transporation
carbonfootprint
Conservation (Habitat, water, Activities focused on it
trees/soil)
GHG Reduction Actions taken to reduce GHG emission
CDM/Carbon Credit Enrolled/actively
SC Awareness (Ad&PR, Activities related to participation and awareness
labeling,activities)
CSR Activities Specifically promoting Resources use optimization in
community external to company
Sampling: The number of companies whose CSR reports were considered was divided
sectorally. A total of 91 companies were reviewed belonging to 11 different sectors. The number
of companies reviewed under each sector is illustrated in the chart below.
Sectoral approach was adopted since it is a significant element in a portfolio to address climate
change, it provided a means to compare best practices, performance standards, environmental
performance and use of clean technology by companies to reduce their carbon footprint. To avoid
inefficiency and unintended effects, sectoral approach was used to compare CSR reports of
companies belonging to a similar sector.[10]
The main benefit of using this approach was to understand the commitment level of companies in
a particular area for reducing GHG emissions and to understand the diverse approaches
undertaken by companies across different sectors for analyzing the trend in their respective field
to combat climate change.
Chart showing the number of companies reviewed in each sector
1. Information Technology:
Analysis
2. FMCG
Analysis
3. Automotive:
Analysis
4. Realty:
Analysis
Analysis
6. Bank
Analysis
7. Consumer Durables
Analysis
8. Metal:
Analysis
Analysis
10. Power:
Analysis
Analysis
Conclusion:
There lies a big gap between companies adopting sustainable consumption practices to reduce
their carbon foot print on the environment and mitigate climate change.
There exists a big bias across sectors since some companies focus on few indicators of
sustainable consumption rather than adopting a holistic approach for reducing carbon foot print
specially in respect of companies CSR activities.
There is a lack of uniformity in CSR reporting of companies and thus it is difficult to understand
the company’s focus area for sustainable consumption.
Annexure 1
References:
1 Swedish Consumer Coalition (2001) Sustainable consumption: A report from the Swedish
Consumer Coalition, Sweden
9.Figure 10: Indicators of Consumption and Production Patterns (UN CSD) PLANNING FOR
CHANGE Guidelines for National Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and
Production
10 The Sectoral Approach to Climate Change: Introduction and Overview Industry sectoral
approaches and climate action:From global to local level in a post-2012 climate framework A
Review of Research, Debates and Positions
Cadbury http://www.cadburyindia.com/cadtoday/socialresp.asp
Colgate http://www.colgate.co.in/app/Colgate/IN/Corp/Environment.cv
sp
Marico http://www.marico.com/abt_marico/csr.html
Parle http://www.parleproducts.com/citizen/citizen_parle_csr.asp
Dabur http://www.dabur.com/About%20Dabur-Vision
Amul http://www.amul.com/photogal/pg150808.html
HCL http://www.hcl.in/community-initiatives.asp
Patni http://www.patni.com/
Oracle http://www.oracle.com/index.html
NIIT http://www.niit.com/Pages/DefaultINDIA.aspx
Mphasis http://www.mphasis.com/
Apollo http://www.apollotyres.com/india_community.htm
Bajaj http://www.bajajauto.com/csr.asp
Exide http://www.exideindustries.com/corporate_social.html
MRF http://www.mrftyres.com/MrfSport.aspx