WWF-UK Research centre: Policy

Line of ants on green leaf © WWF/Chris Martin BAHR

'We envisage new constellations of enlightened governments, intergovernmental institutions, environmental and development NGOs, forward-looking companies and creative thinkers, who would address issues left unresolved,' Director, WWF International

牋牋Issues

牋牋Places

牋牋People

牋牋Policy & reports

Search WWF-UK

WWF-UK > Research > Issues > Companies and finance> Policy

Issues
> Companies and finance

Companies home

Issues home

Research home

Companies and finance policy

The policy section outlines WWF's position on key issues and includes policy documents, such as briefing papers and responses to government consultations.

WWF Discussion paper: Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR - an overview
22 September 2000
WWF has experience of the benefits and potential of voluntary initiatives first-hand, through partnerships with key industry sectors including the establishment of the Marine Stewardship Council(MSC) and the Forest Stewardship Council(FSC), Climate Savers and many other partnerships. Yet WWF's experience in working on issues of global concern such as fisheries, forests, climate, toxics, freshwater and species makes it clear that the existing voluntary initiatives are not enough. The overarching goal must be to ensure that corporations operate in a manner that supports sustainability and that companies that move in a sustainable direction are supported, not disadvantaged.

In order to address the current failures WWF believes that a new approach is needed firstly for legally binding global rules - Corporate Accountability (CA) - especially with respect to transnational companies, to help ensure minimum acceptable levels of responsible corporate behaviour and practices in every country in which they operate. Where companies operate transnationally, voluntary initiatives alone have not proved adequate to address the needs of sustainable development. Secondly there is a need to support proactive front runners that integrate sustainable development into their core business strategies (Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR).

This paper focus' on the implications of adopting CSR as a core business strategy.

PDF files
To view and print PDF files, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free of charge from the Adobe website. For further information, visit our help page.