Corporate social responsibility and sustainability - Environ...

Learning Outcomes

After reading this article, you will be able to explain why corporate social responsibility (CSR) is important for businesses, outline the main legal and ethical obligations relating to environmental and social risk, and identify strategies for managing these risks. You should also be capable of describing how organisations analyse stakeholder needs in the context of CSR and sustainability, and recognise how failing to manage environmental and social risks can affect business performance.

ACCA Business and Technology (BT) Syllabus

For ACCA Business and Technology (BT), you are required to understand how CSR and sustainability influence business risks, legal and ethical obligations, and how these affect both internal and external stakeholders. Focus your study on the following points:

• The definition and importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability in contemporary organisations
• Main social, environmental, and economic duties of businesses towards stakeholders
• How to analyse stakeholder needs and incorporate them into social responsibility strategies
• Approaches for identifying, monitoring, and reducing environmental and social risks within business operations
• The relationship between responsible business practices, compliance with laws, and long-term business success
• Practical examples of CSR risk management and its impact on organisational reputation and performance

Test Your Knowledge

Attempt these questions before reading this article. If you find some difficult or cannot remember the answers, remember to look more closely at that area during your revision.

1. What is meant by corporate social responsibility? Give two practical examples of CSR obligations for a manufacturing business.
2. Name three types of business risks that arise from poor environmental or social management.
3. List two ways an organisation can assess and manage the needs of external stakeholders in relation to social responsibility.
4. True or false? Implementing sustainability measures always increases business costs with no benefit.

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability are core principles shaping how businesses operate and manage risk. Legal, social, and environmental expectations require firms to act responsibly toward employees, the environment, and society. Managing these obligations is not just an ethical duty—it is also essential for long-term business survival and value creation. This article explains the main requirements of CSR, the steps organisations must take to manage environmental and social risks, and how to align stakeholder expectations with sustainable practices.

Key Term: corporate social responsibility (CSR)
The ongoing obligation of a business to act ethically and contribute to economic progress, while improving quality of life for employees, local communities, and society at large.

Why CSR and Sustainability Matter

CSR and sustainability are increasingly central to business strategies. This is due to growing regulation, stakeholder expectations, and reputational risk.

Benefits of Responsible Practice

• Meeting legal requirements on environmental protection, equality, and employee rights
• Maintaining access to resources and markets through compliance
• Gaining competitive advantage via ethical branding and stakeholder trust
• Reducing exposure to litigation, fines, or costly remediation
• Supporting long-term profitability by avoiding actions that can harm the environment or society

Key Term: sustainability
Using resources in a way that allows business growth without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Consequences of Neglect

Businesses that ignore social or environmental risks face reputational damage, higher costs, legal penalties, and potential exclusion from markets. For example, pollution, poor working conditions, or failure to respond to climate change can lead to consumer boycotts or regulatory action.

Main Social and Environmental Duties

Every business has broad responsibilities toward key stakeholder groups, which include:

• Environmental protection: Reducing pollution, efficient resource use, proper waste disposal, and minimising carbon emissions.
• Employee welfare: Ensuring health, safety, diversity, non-discrimination, and fair pay.
• Community engagement: Supporting local development, respecting human rights, and consulting affected communities about major projects.
• Supply chain standards: Requiring suppliers to maintain ethical and environmental standards.
• Transparency: Regular, accurate reporting on social and environmental performance.

Legal Compliance

Statutory requirements exist for pollution, waste management, health and safety, and reporting. Businesses must also comply with anti-discrimination, equal pay, and minimum wage laws. Non-compliance can result in severe legal and financial repercussions.

Exam Warning Do not assume that voluntary CSR activity exempts organisations from mandatory legal compliance. Failure to meet legal standards cannot be compensated by charity or community projects.

Stakeholder Analysis and Engagement

To manage CSR effectively, organisations must systematically identify and address the interests of all relevant stakeholders.

Who Are Stakeholders?

Stakeholders include anyone affected by or able to influence the organisation: employees, customers, suppliers, local communities, government regulators, investors, and society.

Key Term: stakeholder analysis
The process of identifying groups affected by an organisation, assessing their concerns, and prioritising actions to address those needs.

Steps in Stakeholder Analysis

1. List all potential stakeholders.
2. Assess each group’s level of interest and ability to influence the business.
3. Gather information through surveys, meetings, focus groups, and data analysis.
4. Identify key expectations or concerns relating to social and environmental issues.
5. Prioritise actions based on risk, legal obligations, and strategic importance.

Revision Tip For the exam, remember that stakeholder interests may conflict. Effective CSR is about finding balance and not just satisfying one powerful group.

Environmental and Social Risk Management

Environmental and social risks can threaten business continuity, financial health, and reputation. Proactive risk management is essential.

Common Types of Risk

• Regulatory risk: New laws on emissions, waste, or safety may require rapid change.
• Operational risk: Supply chain disruptions from protests, pollution incidents, or resource shortages.
• Financial risk: Fines, penalties, project delays, or loss of investment due to poor environmental/social practice.
• Reputational risk: Negative media coverage or consumer boycotts after adverse events.

Managing Risk

1. Risk identification: Conduct systematic reviews of business activities, including supply chains, to spot possible threats.
2. Policy development: Create clear policies for health, safety, environmental protection, and ethics.
3. Training and culture: Educate staff and contractors on their obligations and why compliance matters.
4. Monitoring: Regularly audit and report on environmental, health and safety, and social impacts.
5. Mitigation: Take corrective action if problems arise—change processes, update technology, improve working conditions, or strengthen policies.
6. Reporting: Communicate performance and improvement plans clearly to all stakeholders.

Key Term: environmental risk
The potential for harm to arise from business activities that affect natural resources, ecosystems, or communities.

Key Term: social risk
The possibility that business actions may have negative impacts on employees, customers, local communities, or society more broadly.

Worked Example 1.1

A beverage company is notified by a regulator that its factory discharges have exceeded the allowed pollution limits. The media reports on the company's environmental performance.

Question: What immediate risks does the company face, and what should its next steps be?

Answer:
Immediate risks include regulatory fines, production restrictions, and lasting reputational damage. The company should immediately assess discharge sources, fix operational failures, engage openly with regulators and the public, update its processes to comply with limits, and implement regular monitoring and reporting.

Worked Example 1.2

A clothing retailer discovers one of its overseas suppliers uses unsafe working practices and underpays staff, leading to negative news articles and protests.

Question: What should the company have done in advance, and how should it respond now?

Answer:
In advance, the company should have set clear supplier standards and audit requirements. Now, it must review supply contracts, suspend unethical suppliers, support remediation, communicate transparently with customers, and strengthen due diligence procedures for all new contracts.

Linking CSR to Strategy and Performance

Firms committed to CSR must ensure their core strategies support responsible behaviour:

• Set clear goals for emission reductions, diversity, or community investment.
• Integrate sustainability into product development and site selection.
• Use sustainable supply chain management and responsible sourcing.
• Monitor progress with performance indicators and public reports.
• Reward managers and employees for achieving sustainability targets.

Key Term: sustainability report
A public account of a company’s social, environmental, and governance performance, aimed at increasing accountability and transparency.

Measuring and Reporting Performance

Regular, honest reporting enables organisations to demonstrate achievements and offers proof of compliance to regulators and investors.

• Use key performance indicators (KPIs) for environmental, health, and social goals.
• Follow recognised reporting standards (such as GRI or national guidelines).
• Disclose failures as well as successes—transparency builds trust.
• Link CSR performance to financial results where possible.

Summary

CSR and sustainability management are now business essentials, not options. Effective firms identify all relevant stakeholder needs, comply with laws, and manage social and environmental risks proactively. They create policies, embed responsibility into everyday practices, and report performance openly. This approach preserves reputation, reduces risk, creates opportunities, and supports long-term profitability.

Key Point Checklist

This article has covered the following key knowledge points:

• Define corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability
• Describe the main legal, social, and environmental duties of businesses
• Explain stakeholder analysis and prioritisation in CSR
• Identify types of environmental and social risks
• Outline steps to manage, monitor, and reduce these risks in practice
• Demonstrate the role of policy, culture, and reporting in effective CSR
• Connect CSR management to organisational strategy and stakeholder confidence

Key Terms and Concepts

• corporate social responsibility (CSR)
• sustainability
• stakeholder analysis
• environmental risk
• social risk
• sustainability report