SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ITS ENVIRONMENTAL COMPONENT: ORIGINS, EVOLUTION AND ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED

Abstract

This paper deals with a very important subject for both developed and developing countries that has yet to be thoroughly analyzed from an environmental perspective: corporate social responsibility. Our analysis is highly relevant in our current context, given the increasing pressures exerted by companies on the environment as a result of their economic activities. Furthermore, another element that makes this study up- to-date is the fact that more and more companies have started to pay attention to the concept of corporate social responsibility and have begun to take responsibility for these pressures and act towards reducing them, whether out of voluntary compliance or forced by market conditions or regulatory bodies. The present study is a historical descriptive-analytic investigation of the concept of corporate social responsibility and its environmental component. The aim of the research is to create a historical analysis of this concept and its environmental aspects at both national and international level, presenting at the same time the various organizations and programs involved in its development and in the actions that help implement it. The social responsibility of companies, also known as corporate social responsibility (CSR) or, in French, responsabilité sociétale des entreprises (RSE), is a fundamental component of the broader concept of social responsibility. There is no unanimously accepted version for the birth of this notion or its first proposed definitions. In time, the importance of CSR has steadily grown, and it became the focus of attention not just for theoreticians and companies, but also for international organizations, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations (UN), the Global Compact Program, the ISO 26000 Social Responsibility Standard or the European Union. We can thus say that a new stage began for the evolution of corporate social responsibility, where the most important aspects are the planning and the subsequent implementation of its underlying concepts. Corporate social responsibility received significant attention from international organizations, and this served as a strong incentive for the business environment to adopt the concept. From an environmental standpoint, corporate social responsibility is becoming increasingly important, due to the pressures exerted by companies on the natural world. At an international level, most major corporations have accepted the principle of the responsibility that they have towards society for the environmental impact generated by their economic activities. This acceptance has been followed by the adoptions of internal operational policies aimed at reducing the said impact. Corporate social responsibility is not just an act of philanthropy or a fad, but a very serious behavior which should serve as a foundation for the actions of a corporation that will naturally lead to long- term profits