Want to create interactive content? It’s easy in Genially!

Get started free

2025 Corporate Sustainability Management

Ambassador

Created on November 2, 2025

Start designing with a free template

Discover more than 1500 professional designs like these:

Math Lesson Plan

Primary Unit Plan 2

Animated Chalkboard Learning Unit

Business Learning Unit

Corporate Signature Learning Unit

Code Training Unit

History Unit plan

Transcript

Corporate Sustainability & CSR

(module Business & Society)

Anna Zinenko, Ph.D

start

Navigation

Back to Home

Show interactive content

Introduction

Back to Index

Corporate Sustainability & CSR

Back Page

Next Page

Introducing myself

Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn

Currently

Countries

Anna Zinenko

UAB- EUTDH CIEE #GCSC FHK

Ukraine USA Switzerland Spain Denmark

Originally from UkraineLiving & working in Barcelona

Education

Organizations

MNE Research InstitutesUNEP UniversitiesStudy Abroad Programs

BBA in Management MS in Ecological Economics PhD in Environmental Science and Technology

Index

Introduction

Evolution

CSR Instruments

UNGC GRI ISO 26000

Concept Weak vs Strong Sustainability Corporate Interpretation

Stages to Sustainable Business

Business Ethics Dilemmas

Sus. Innovation

UN SDGs

Business Ethics Dilemma Game by UN Global Compact and KPMG

Sustainable Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship

17 SDGs

Course Timeline

24/11

17/12

03/11

08:30-11:00 AM

08:30-11:00 AM

13:30-16:00 AM

Business Ethics Dilemma Game by UN Global Compact and KPMG Business Ethics Misstep assignment

Sustainable Innovation presentations & Discussion

Giving the definition to multi-interpretable concepts

10/12

17/11

13:30-16:00

08:30-11:50 AM

Evolution of Corporate Sustainability CSR Instruments Sustainability Reporting

Business Ethics Misstep presentations & Discussions Sustianable Innovation

Grading

40%

20%

40%

Small Teams Presentations (20% each)

Class Participation

Written reflections & discussions

Introduction Sustainability & CSR

Who has the power to simplify complexity?

Joan Martinez Alier, Catalan economist

Are you confused?

CSR

Weak vs Strong Sustainability

Sustainability

Corporate Social Responsibility

Three pillars of sustainability

Environmental

Economic

Social

Info

Info

Info

Sustainability Models

Five Ps

Nested circles

Venn diagram model

Based on United Nations (2015)

Based on Senge et al. (2008)

Based on Sadler (1990)

Partnership

Environmental

EnvironmentalPlanet

Profit

Social

Peace

People

EconomicProfit

SocialPeople

Economic

Planet

CSR according to the EU?

Being socially responsible means not only fulfilling legal expectations but also going beyond compliance and investing more into human capital, the environment and relations with stakeholders.

The European Commission

CSR according to the WBCSD?

CSR is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large.

WBCSD

What is CSR according to ISO?

”Corporate Social responsibility concerns the behaviour of an organisation with respect to its impact on others and on the natural environment. As with the broader concept of responsibility, the social responsibility of organizations involves being held accountable for actions and decisions. Because it involves willingness by an organisation to be held accountable for actions over which it has control, it is an intrinsically moral or ethical concept requiring an acceptance that there is right and wrong. The actions that constitute social responsibility include the decision to refrain from a specific activity where that is considered the right thing to do.”

ISO (2010)

Videos

B1G1 BM

TOM's Business Models: Buy- One Give-One (B1G1)

Fast Fashion

Is fast fashion destroying our environment?

Sustainable Development

“meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

Brundtland Report, 1987

Initially: criteria used to classify (sustainable and responsible) investments

ESG

Nowadays: ESG is increasingly replacing the term sustainability in a business context

Environment

Governance

Society

Green- and social washing

Greenwashing “misleading the public to believe that a company or other entity is doing more to protect the environment than it is” (United Nations 2024)

Socialwashing “the discrepancy between a company's perceived commitments to social issues and the actual steps implemented to meet those commitments” (Deloitte 2023)

CSR Evolution

Timeline of Sustainability

Integrated Reporting Framework Paris Agreement

The Theory of Moral Sentiment by Adam Smith

1759

UNGC GRI MDGs

Brundtland ReportISO 9001

A Friedman doctrine The Social Responsibility Of Business Is to Increase Its Profits

2030

SDGs

EMAS Rio Earth Summit

2013

1987

2015

2000

1992

1970

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

???

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

1997

1790

First large-scale consumer boycott

1990

IPCC First Assessment Report (FAR)

Kyoto Protocoladopted,entered into force in 2005 ISO 14001

2021

2010

2014

1713

Hans Carl von Carlowitz first mentioned the term sustainability

1984

IFRS Foundationconsolidated Value Reporting Foundation, CDSB

ISO 26000

Stakeholder TheoryEdward Freeman

The EU adopted the Non- financial Reporting Directive (NFRD)

From Profit to Social Business

From narrow view to a broad view of business responsibilities

Social Business

Profit with Purpose

2016: Broad view social purpose

Profit

2002: CSR is good for business

1973: The narrow view, profits only

(Haski-Leventhal, D. 2021)

The Pyramid of CSR (Carroll, 1979)

Desired/Expected Be a good corporate citizen.

Philanthropic

Archie B. Carroll, "The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility: Toward the Moral Management of organizational Stakeholders", Business Horizons, July-August 1991, p. 42.

Expected Do what is right, fair and just.

Ethical

Required Obey laws and regulations.

Legal

Required Be profitable. Maximise sales, minimize costs.

Economic

Evolution

SUSTAINABLE BUSINNESS

CORPORATE COMMUNITY INVESTMENT

COMMUNITY AFFAIRS

PHILANTHROPY

PROFIT FOCUS

(Montiel I., internal)

Weak vs Strong Sustainability

Stage 5Coevolutionary

example

Stage 4Regenerative

Stage 3 Systemic

Stage 2 Business-centered

Stage 1Compliance

(Landrum, 2017)

Stakeholders

Suppliers

Clients/ consumers

Employees

Competitors

Governments

NGOs

Media

Shareholders

Stakeholder (definitions)

“Stakeholders in an organization are the individuals and groups who are depending on the firm in order to achieve their personal goals and on whom the firm is depending for its existence.”

Eric Rhenman (1964)

“A stakeholder in an organization is (by definition) any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization’s objectives.”

R. Edward Freeman (1984)

““The stakeholders in a firm are individuals and constituencies that contribute, either voluntarily or involuntarily, to its wealth-creating capacity and activities, and who are therefore its potential beneficiaries and/or risk bearers.”

Post, Preston, and Sachs (2002)

Stakeholder (new definition)

Any entity who is affected by the organization (either voluntarily or involuntarily) and possesses the capacity to affect the organization.

Stakeholders' Model (Werther & Chandler)

03

01

02

Economic Stakeholders

Organizational Stakeholders

Societal Stakeholders

ShareholdersConsumers Competitors Suppliers

GovernmentsCommunities NGOs Environment

EmployeesOwners Managers Unions

CSR Instruments

Reflection Questions

01

How do I ensure the environmental commitment of the company?

02

How do I ensure my provider complies with human rights?

03

How do I promote gender balance in the company?

04

What is my contribution to the community where I develop my business?

Intruments for CSR

(Zinenko, Montiel, Rovira, 2015)

Goals of CSR Instruments

No general classification model

Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives

  • encouragement of cultural and managerial change via sustainable development (Cetindamar, Husoy, 2007)
  • support organizational accountability (Rasche, 2009)
  • define rules and procedures for organizational behaviour regarding social and environmental issues (Smith 2001, Rasche, 2009)
  • According to mechanisms and their focus (Rasche, 2009)
  • With regard to issue they standardize, process and specificity of the norm (Gilbert, Rasche, 2008)
  • Classified by 5 dimensions, such as nature, application, focus, reach and scope (Rasche, Esser, 2006).

Private governance mechanisms involving:

  • - corporations
  • - civil society
  • - organizations
  • - governments
  • - academies
  • - unions
to cope with social and environmental challenges across industries and on global scale

Dimensions to classify CSR Instruments

(Zinenko, Montiel, Rovira, 2015)

Scale

Type

Orientation

Requirements

Results-oriented: documented CSR achievements, directed towards business; demonstrable performance

  • Ex: Rating Indices, Stock market indexes
Process-oriented: focus on participation, continuous improvement and learning process; usually multi-stakeholder;
  • Ex: UNGC, GRI, ISO 26000

International

  • Ex: UNGC, GRI, ISO
National
  • Ex: Spain (Foretica, SGE21)
  • National CSR strategy plans
Organizational
  • Internally developed company tools

Principles and Codes: list of good intentions, basis for other initiatives

  • Ex: UNGC
Management Systems: continuous improvement: Plan-Do-Check-Act; certificates, stamps and labels
  • Ex: ISO 14000, ISO 9000, ISO 26000
Reports: give accountability and visibility; hard to compare
  • Ex: GRI
Rating Indices: independent evaluations; reputation
  • DJSI

Hard requirements: best in class; documentation of achivements, external evaluation

  • Ex: DJSI, FTSE4Good, ISO 14000
Soft requirements: focus on relative achivements; lower performance limits, low barriers to enter; aim to inspire, educate, motivate
  • Ex: UNGC, GRI

Comparison of CSR instruments

UNGC

ISO 26000

GRI

SDGs

United Nations Global Compact;World’s largest voluntary strategic policy initiative;Since 2000

Guidance standard on social responsibility;

Global Reporting Initiative;World’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework;

Sustainable Development Goals;A shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet

Info

Info

Info

Info

UNGC

01

04

Mission

COP

UNGC

02

05

10 Principles

Process

United Nations Global Compact;World’s largest voluntary strategic policy initiative;Since 2000

Why participate?

FirstSteps

03

06

Participants

Link

ISO 26000

ISO 26000 provides guidance on:

ISO 26000 Core Subjects

ISO 26000 Principles

  • Concepts, terms and definitions related to Social Responsibility (SR)
  • Background, trends and characteristics of SR
  • Principles and practices relating SR
  • Core subjects and issues of SR
  • Integrating, implementing and promoting socially responsible behavior throughout the organization and, through its policies and practices, within its sphere of influence
  • Identifying and engaging with stakeholders
  • Communicating commitments, performance and other information related to SR.

(ISO, 2010)

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

integrated and indivisible goals for the world's future

Discover

+ CHECK SDG INDEX

193

SDGs (2016 - 2030)

MDGs (2000-2015)

+ DISCOVER TARGETS

countries pledged to

SDGs are build upon the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and require a transformational vision and a revitalized global partnership to ensure its implementation, bringing together governments, the private sector, civil society, the United Nations system and other actors and mobilizing all available resources. Each one of us is responsible for its implementation.

17

+ TAKE ACTION

indivisible goals backed by

+ FIND MORE INFO

169

By clicking on each SDG, discover the latest information about the progress in achieving it

+ MICROLEARNING

detailed targets

+ SDGs Good Practices

+ INFO

SUSTAINABILITY

Pillars of sustainability

Watch

Environmental

Economic

Social

Numbers In Action

How can we make a world a better place

Planet

People

Profit

Peace

Partnership

Our progress towards SDGs

(GCSC, 2025)

Socially Responsible Investing

An investment is considered socially responsible because of the nature of the business the company conducts. Common themes for socially responsible investments include avoiding investment in companies that produce or sell addictive substances (like alcohol, gambling and tobacco) and seeking out companies engaged in environmental sustainability and alternative energy/clean technology efforts.

ESG (Environment Social Governance) Investing

Social

Governance

Environmental

Focuses on company's environmental disclosure, environmental impact, and any efforts to reduce pollution or carbon emissions.

Refers to workplace mentality (e.g., diversity, management, human rights) as well as any relationships surrounding the community (e.g., corporate citizenship and philanthropy)

Accounts for compensation, shareholder rights and the relationships between shareholders and management

RobecoSAM " Measuring Intangibles: CSA Methodology

Impact Investment

Impact investing is defined as the deployment of funds into investments that generate a measurable and beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return on investment. An innovative way of boosting the private sector’s contribution to sustainable development can be achieved with impact investing.

The UN Principles for Responsible Investment

01

We will incorporate ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes.

02

We will be active owners and incorporate ESG issues into our ownership policies and practices.

03

We will seek appropriate disclosure on ESG issues by the entities in which we invest.

04

We will promote acceptance and implementation of the Principles within the investment industry.

05

We will work together to enhance our effectiveness in implementing the Principles.

06

We will each report on our activities and progress towards implementing the Principles.

Sin Funds

Sin funds focus on companies normally excluded by funds with ethical filters and aim for superior returns to investors

  • “A dollar invested in US tobacco companies in 1900, with dividends prudently reinvested, would have turned into $6.28m [today]. . . . [Similarly,] brewers and distillers were the best-performing British shares of the past 115 years, turning £1 into £243,152, including dividends.”
  • Anecdotal evidence suggests that there is reason to invest in sin stocks. This is partly because these industries tend to be mature and do not have large costs associated with growth, but it is also because many of these products satisfy basic human needs that will always be in demand:
  • “When the going gets tough, the tough go eating, smoking and drinking.”

Research ESG/ Sustainability Indices

Group 1: DJSI Family Group 2: FTSE4Good Index Series

Research the assigned Sustainability Index:1) Explore different indices within the family (series) 2) Its methodology 3) Find lists companies (World, Europe & North America if applicable) Discuss the results.

FTSE4Good

DJSI

Sustainability Reporting

Why it is important to produce CSR report?

Instrument to COMMUNICATE and DEMOSTRATE the social, environmental and economic performance of a company is consistent with its commitment to sustainability

Info

Non-Financial Reporting in the EU

Proposal for CSRD

Companies that must comply

Information to be disclosed

On 21 April 2021

  • extends the scope to all large companies and all companies listed on regulated markets (except listed micro-enterprises)
  • requires the audit (assurance) of reported information
  • introduces more detailed reporting requirements, and a requirement to report according to mandatory EU sustainability reporting standards

EU rules on non-financial reporting currently apply to large public-interest companies with more than 500 employees. This covers approximately 11 700 large companies and groups across the EU, including:

  • listed companies
  • banks
  • insurance companies
  • other companies designated by national authorities as public-interest entities

Under Directive 2014/95/EU, large companies have to publish information related to

  • environmental matters
  • social matters and treatment of employees
  • respect for human rights
  • anti-corruption and bribery
  • diversity on company boards (in terms of age, gender, educational and professional background)

web

Global Reporting Initiative

Materiality: report on what really matters

  • Report what really matters and where it counts - the stakeholders want to know if the management of the organizations comprising the critical links between sustainability, corporate strategy and where most impact occurs

Materiality Assessment

01

Identify internal and external stakeholders

02

Conduct some initial stakeholder outreach

03

Identify and prioritize what you want to measure

04

Design your materiality survey

05

Launch your survey and start collecting insights

06

Analyze the insights

07

Stakeholders weights

Integrated Reporting

01

04

Mission

Purpose

Integrated Reporting

02

Key objectives

a process that results in communicating-through an annual integrated report- how organizations create value over time, and their impact from an economic, social and environmental point of view

Fundamental concepts

03

Framework

Database

Link

Cases & Reports

PATAGONIA

EY

TESLA

NIKE

More examples

TO GOOD TO GO

LA FAGEDA

PLASTIC WHALE

TRIODOS BANK

video

Tools

UNGC

ISO 26000

GRI

SDGs

United Nations Global Compact;World’s largest voluntary strategic policy initiative;Since 2000

Guidance standard on social responsibility;

Global Reporting Initiative;World’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework;

Sustainable Development Goals;A shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet

Info

Info

Info

Info

Business Ethics

What Are The Philosophical Approaches To Ethics?

Approaches are favored by moral philosophers

Straw men approaches deny value of business ethics

Straw men approaches

Friedman doctrine

Cultural relativism

Naïve immoralist

+info

+info

+info

Approaches are favored by moral philosophers

Utilitarian ethics

Kantian ethics

Rights theories

+info

+info

+info

Fighting corruption at an international and a national level

03

01

02

04

The Council of Europe’s Criminal Law Convention on Corruption

United Nations Convention against Corruption

OECD Convention on Combating Bribery

The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)

+info

+info

+info

+info

Index

Facts about the fashion and apparel industry

1/2x

75

$2.5

2x

consumers keep their closing in comparison to 2000

trillion | valued

production since 2000

million people | employed

59%

100

20%

10%

of sustainability claims are misleading

waste water generated globally

global carbon emissions

billion items | produced early

Link 2

Link 1

United Nations Economic Commission, 2019

Videos

How to stop

How we really stop fast fashion

Documentary

`the true cost of fast fashion

Sustainable Innovation

Novozymes case

01

B2B biological solutions, R&D and production of industrial enzymes, microorganisms, biopharmaceutical ingredients;48% share of the global industrial enzyme market

Activities

02

International CSR Instruments

UNGC (since 2001), in UNGC LEAD (since 2011) GRI (since 2002) ISO 14001 (since 2001) ISO 9000 (since 1996)

03

Sustainability governance

Sustainable Development Board Sustainability Department (more than 20 employees)

04

CSR reporting

Environmental reporting (since 1994) Social Reporting (since 1999) Sustainability reporting (since 2000) Integrated reporting (since 2002) Online interactive reporting (since 2007)

(Zinenko, 2014)

Sustainability Integration into Novozymes

Watch

New Business System Thinking

Cost Avoidance

Step 3: Advanced

Risk Avoidance

Step 2: Intermediate

Step 1: Basic

Dr. Claus Stig Pedersen, 2014

Organization of Sustainability Governance in Novozymes

Board of Directors
Executive Leadership Team
Sustainability Development Board (SDB)
Regions
Key functions
Sustainability development department

Novozymes, Internal

Explicit vs Implicit CSR

Implicit CSR

Explicit CSR

the social and environmental responsibilities of companies located in ‘coordinated economies’ are embedded in and regulated by institutional and legal frameworks, hence reducing the need to explicitly communicate these companies’ contributions to society Ex: France, Denmark

companies from liberal, laissez-faire economies choose a more explicit form of CSR since liberal market economies leave a larger share of corporate responsibility issues to the discretion of their companies EX: USA

Matten & Moon (2004)

Patagonia case

“Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire, and implement solutions to the environmental crisis”

  • Corporate Culture
  • Strategy: "initiative-based", "project-based"
  • Ideas: from below & business unit directors
  • Decentralized way of working

Patagonia

What are the tensions for Patagonia around DWR (Durable Water Repellent) and who are the stakeholders associated with each of these tensions?

“Build the best product"

  • Stakeholders
  • Chemical companies
  • Other brands (competitors)
  • Greenpeace
  • Other NGOs
  • Industry standards players

Patagonia

What will really change the textile industry to adopt more sustainable solutions? How can a relatively small company like Patagonia move massive companies like DuPont/Chemours? How can it move the entire ecosystem away from environmentally damaging practices?

  • Traditional approach: risk-based (Restricted Substance Lists) when the damage is already done vs Precautionary approach (identified harmful chemicals upfront).
  • Larger the brand more influence on its supply chain.
  • Challenge of industry scaling: collaboration and coordination around processes and standards.

Patagonia

What will really change the textile industry to adopt more sustainable solutions? How can a relatively small company like Patagonia move massive companies like DuPont/Chemours? How can it move the entire ecosystem away from environmentally damaging practices?

  • Consumer issue: until consumers pull for greater sustainability, the industry won’t change.
  • Educate and activate the consumers on environmental impact of chemicals.
  • Should industry-wide organizations such Sustainable Apparel Coalition launch consumer campaigns that focus on consumer awareness and behavior change initiatives particularly towards fast fashion?
  • How effective Patagonia’s anti-growth and anti-consumerism message is really working? “Don’t’ buy this jacket” campaign?

Timeline of Sustainability

Integrated Reporting Framework Paris Agreement

The Theory of Moral Sentiment by Adam Smith

1759

UNGC GRI MDGs

Brundtland ReportISO 9001

A Friedman doctrine The Social Responsibility Of Business Is to Increase Its Profits

2030

SDGs

EMAS Rio Earth Summit

2013

1987

2015

2000

1992

1970

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

???

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

1997

1790

First large-scale consumer boycott

1990

IPCC First Assessment Report (FAR)

Kyoto Protocoladopted,entered into force in 2005 ISO 14001

2021

2010

2014

1713

Hans Carl von Carlowitz first mentioned the term sustainability

1984

IFRS Foundationconsolidated Value Reporting Foundation, CDSB

ISO 26000

Stakeholder TheoryEdward Freeman

The EU adopted the Non- financial Reporting Directive (NFRD)

Who has the power to simplify complexity?

Joan Martinez Alier, Catalan economist

Thank you!