How do you match your CSR with sustainable development?

To align CSR with Sustainable Development, a company must integrate environmental social considerations into its business strategy. Conduct a thorough sustainability assessment to identify key areas where your business can make a positive impact. Set clear CSR goals and targets that align with sustainable development objectives, be it reducing carbon emissions or supporting local communities. Engage stakeholders, including employees, customers, and local communities, to ensure their input and concerns are addressed. Implement transparent reporting & measurement systems to track progress and hold the company accountable. Collaborate with NGOs, govt agencies, & industry to leverage efforts and resources for sustainable development.

CSR from a development perspective can be a risk mitigation strategy for corporates as they give back to communities. This enables corporates to be in a position to integrate in communities they undertake there businesses and operate in. It gives a human element to the side of business that is concerned not only with profits but also general well being of the communities.

CSR is not an isolated function in any corporate, it is integrated with overall governance of the company. If governance of any corporate is not up to the mark, the said corporate definitely lacking the basic CSR functionality. CSR is linked with ESG and sustainability and no corporate is ESG compliant and is fully sustainable, if it is lacking in it's basic CSR.

When starting any CSR and sustainability initiative, the most important step is to map out the business' value chain - we use the approach of mapping out the process of each department - for example, marketing - the materials on which branding is printed, how is the branding disposed off, do we look at creating reusable branding so that we don't have to create new ones for each subsequent campaign. Similarly, if one looks at merchandise, what are the raw materials used, the production process, inventory management to reduce unused merch each year, recycling/disposal methods,etc. This is unique to each business. Once we measure the carbon footprint, only then can we take the next step of creating an action plan to mitigate and offset

Most of the time we are overwhelmed by the number of indicators or activities that we would like to measure. Start focus on one or two flagships activities will be more efficient in showing the results. One of the tool is SROI can help you pinpoint what activities that are meaningfull to create impact.

Private sector in this day and age should consider integrating sustainability into their core business strategy, setting specific objectives, and engaging stakeholders. They should map CSR initiatives to SDGs, establish measurable goals, and transparently report progress. This includes adopting environmentally responsible practices, addressing social issues, and promoting ethical supply chain management.

As mention in my previous comment, we cannot overlook the relation of taxation, and paying taxes, to CSR and sustainability: We wrote about it here: Goldstein, G. R, and Goldstein, G. R. (2020a), “A Qualitative Inquiry on the Perspective of Tax Practitioners on Corporate Social Responsibility and Taxation”, International Journal of Business and Applied Sciences, Vol. 9 No. 1. and here: Goldstein, G. R., and Goldstein, G. R. (2020b), “A Follow Up to Our Qualitative Inquiry on the Perspective of Tax Practitioners on Corporate Social Responsibility and Taxation”, International Journal of Business and Applied Sciences, Vol. 9 No. 3.

Aligning your impact areas with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a strategic imperative for responsible businesses. The SDGs serve as a universal blueprint for a better planet, addressing critical global challenges from poverty and inequality to climate change. When your CSR initiatives directly contribute to these goals, you create a powerful synergy. Not only does this enhance your company's reputation and social license to operate, but it also amplifies your positive impact. By choosing SDGs that resonate with your industry and capabilities, you demonstrate a commitment to being a responsible corporate citizen while driving progress towards a more sustainable and equitable world.

SDG's alignment indeed becoming a great basis for framing the Corporate sector/entities sight to define any CSR implementation with great communal impact. Humanitarian issues need attention from all stakeholders including the private sectors. for evaluation the needs of shared value, the needs of publication, the needs of great social impact, must be the basic foundation to set the CSR planning. for addition, many corporate only think CSR as common CHARITY, in which we all independent Humanitarian organization play part to build the pre insight for more result on the fund and most of it sustain program that make changes... this long term mindset will bring along the publication and result that give hope of a better world for beneficiary.

Gotta pay taxes, and avoid tax-avoidance: We wrote about it here: Goldstein, G. R, and Goldstein, G. R. (2020a), “A Qualitative Inquiry on the Perspective of Tax Practitioners on Corporate Social Responsibility and Taxation”, International Journal of Business and Applied Sciences, Vol. 9 No. 1. and here: Goldstein, G. R., and Goldstein, G. R. (2020b), “A Follow Up to Our Qualitative Inquiry on the Perspective of Tax Practitioners on Corporate Social Responsibility and Taxation”, International Journal of Business and Applied Sciences, Vol. 9 No. 3.

Setting SMART goals and targets is indispensable. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound objectives provide clarity and direction to CSR initiatives. They ensure that your efforts are well-defined, quantifiable, realistic, aligned with your organization's mission, and have a clear timeframe for achievement. SMART goals not only facilitate effective planning but also enable robust monitoring and evaluation, allowing companies to track progress and demonstrate tangible results. Whether it's reducing carbon emissions, increasing community engagement, or enhancing diversity and inclusion, SMART goals serve as the compass guiding CSR efforts towards meaningful and impactful outcomes, benefitting both the business and society.

Gotta pay taxes, and avoid tax-avoidance: We wrote about it here: Goldstein, G. R, and Goldstein, G. R. (2020a), “A Qualitative Inquiry on the Perspective of Tax Practitioners on Corporate Social Responsibility and Taxation”, International Journal of Business and Applied Sciences, Vol. 9 No. 1. and here: Goldstein, G. R., and Goldstein, G. R. (2020b), “A Follow Up to Our Qualitative Inquiry on the Perspective of Tax Practitioners on Corporate Social Responsibility and Taxation”, International Journal of Business and Applied Sciences, Vol. 9 No. 3.

Gotta pay taxes, and avoid tax-avoidance: We wrote about it here: Goldstein, G. R, and Goldstein, G. R. (2020a), “A Qualitative Inquiry on the Perspective of Tax Practitioners on Corporate Social Responsibility and Taxation”, International Journal of Business and Applied Sciences, Vol. 9 No. 1. and here: Goldstein, G. R., and Goldstein, G. R. (2020b), “A Follow Up to Our Qualitative Inquiry on the Perspective of Tax Practitioners on Corporate Social Responsibility and Taxation”, International Journal of Business and Applied Sciences, Vol. 9 No. 3.

Work on biases and mental model on the Engage phase to unify or at least align Vision. Engagement to be efficient needs conviction and proof but most of all, it needs to go into each people so they understand what are their beliefs, their représentation of the future, and how they can contribute. It has to be also an internal transformation to be shared widely and to be efficient on the long term.

This is the most difficult part according to me. How to avoid greenwashing perception and claim from your communication is still working in progress. I have on going research in this matter, hopefully it finished soon.

We wrote about it here: Goldstein, G. R, and Goldstein, G. R. (2020a), “A Qualitative Inquiry on the Perspective of Tax Practitioners on Corporate Social Responsibility and Taxation”, International Journal of Business and Applied Sciences, Vol. 9 No. 1. and here: Goldstein, G. R., and Goldstein, G. R. (2020b), “A Follow Up to Our Qualitative Inquiry on the Perspective of Tax Practitioners on Corporate Social Responsibility and Taxation”, International Journal of Business and Applied Sciences, Vol. 9 No. 3.