Many thought that the Credit Crunch would be the end of CSR, forecasting that as companies scrutinised their balance sheets to find ways to cut costs, corporate responsibility would be one of the earliest victims. However, as this article in this week’s Economist points out, whilst companies are turning away from expensive PR stunts or greenwash campaigns and traditional corporate philanthropy is indeed being sidelined - Citigroup’s charitable foundation, for example, has cut the amount of money to be distributed as grants by almost a third – a new era of sustainability and efficiency is being embraced by all.
I don’t think it matters that these changes are driven by self-interest or, in some cases, a fight for survival. Accenture, which has saved itself $8 million in one year by using technology in the place of business travel, didn’t implement the changes solely from a desire to save the planet, it was a straightforward cost cutting exercise that also happened to reduce its CO2 emissions by 2,000 tonnes – as far as I am concerned this doesn’t diminish the achievement. Whatever the reasons behind the change – it is great to see that the idea of responsibility at the heart of business is not only weathering the storm of the recession, but becoming stronger!
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