EIRIS‘ new report “The State of Responsible Business” details growing corporate responsibility in businesses worldwide. The study, “The State of Responsible Business: Global corporate response to environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges” casts a wide net, offering an overview of current corporate responsibility. It also points out trends in corporate responsibility. Generally, more and more businesses are adopting responsible practices in regard to key issues identified by EIRIS. These issues consist of corporate governance, environment, equal opportunities, human rights and the supply chain. In spite of the increase of corporate responsibility overall, not all areas of the world are responding equally. Looking at company annual reports, sustainability/CSR reports, company websites, survey responses and third party materials. EIRIS’ also identified and considered “green-wash” in its research. EIRIS went beyond what companies say they do, to actually considering what processes they have in place, and whether these processes are successful in achieving meaningful results.
Europe leads the way in adopting responsible businesses practices across the board. Almost 75% of European companies that have operations in high-risk countries have a human rights policy in place, compared to less than 40% of US companies and fewer than 20% of Asian companies. Europe and Japan have the highest number of companies with environmental protocols in place, with over 90% of companies having some form of an environmental policy. In Europe, a number of factors drive strong ESG performance: Stricter regulatory environment across the European Union, the presence of many non-governmental organizations, individual awareness of sustainability issues and investor willingness to put pressure on companies to adopt better environmental practices all raise the awareness of European companies. It is a shame to see that US companies are behind European companies in their reactions to social and environmental concerns and we hope that will change in the coming years.
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