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CRI Leaders' Network

Background

The Australian CRI (Corporate Responsibility Index) Leaders Network currently comprises: EnergyAustralia, Westpac, BHP Billiton, ANZ and Toyota.

All companies participated in the Corporate Responsibility Index (CRI) and have subsequently achieved consistently high scores- the criteria for CRI Leaders' Network membership is consistently high performance in the CRI (requiring a score of greater than 95% on the CRI) and continued independently assured and rated leadership in corporate responsibility and sustainability.

This is an exciting opportunity for leading organisations to drive the uptake of responsible business practice more broadly: The CRI Leaders are committed to use their experience and achievements to inspire and develop the corporate responsibility landscape and responsible business practice (RBP) throughout the Australian business environment. The Network is in a particularly unique position to lead business transformation and contribute to the creation of tools that help business implement responsible practice. Such an agenda requires commitment, engagement and open dialogue.

Read a Fairfax article about the CRI Leaders' Network.

Purpose and objectives

The purpose and objectives of the CRI Leaders' Network are to:

1. Advocate and promote corporate responsibility (CR) and responsible business practice (RBP):
   • Where appropriate speak as one voice
   • Pursue innovative ways to make the group’s experiences and learnings available to the broader community
   • Engage with the full extent of Australian business - from SMEs to major corporates

1. Drive best practice management:
   • Challenge the status quo and current thinking
   • Address the local Australian business context
   • Identify emergent issues in the responsible business agenda

1. Review CRI effectiveness as a CR and RBP tool:
   • support Business in the Community (BITC) in the UK and St James Ethics Centre in advising on how the CRI should challenge, measure and reward corporate responsibility including the consideration of:
     • Its current efficacy
     • Its capture of material performance and issues
     • Potential improvements to the structure of the current tool - including flexibility and streamlining; barriers to entry; and notions of leadership and transition
     • Stretching the leaders - look at the need to create an overlay or additional tool to challenge and reward future thinking and leadership
     • Its role relative to and potential convergence with other assessment and development tools, eg. Global Reporting Initiative, Carbon Disclosure Project and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index

Guiding principles

The Network has also adopted the following Guiding Principles:

• That corporate responsibility covers the breadth of responsible business practice including marketplace, workplace, environment and community dimensions.
• To support responsible business practice through practical steps.

The Network members have specifically agreed to support the aims of St James Ethics Centre’s national project to expand responsible business practice through the promotion of the Corporate Responsibility Index and other CR and RBP initiatives. They agreed to work to:

• expand the number of companies that are actively engaged in identifying and adopting more responsible business practices; and
• consider options to improve - and where necessary refine - the tools that are available to promote responsible business practices across all levels of management.

Current activities

Currently the CRI Leaders' Network forward agenda will be to focus their activities on:

• Encouraging greater take-up of responsible business practice in the SME sector:
  • Advising on the St James Ethics Centre SME Responsible Business Practice research project
  • Contribution to a panel discussion at the May 2008 National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable Development on SMEs and corporate supply chain
• Developing sustainable supply chain resources to support the SME project
• The future-focused agenda of social inclusion and human rights.
• Mapping CR measurement and reporting tools

Further information

For further information contact Rosemary Sainty, Head, Responsible Business & CRI Leaders Project in Australia, St James Ethics Centre, tel: +61 (0)2 9299 9566 fax: +61 (0)2 9299 9477 email: rbp@ethics.org.au.