Responsible Business Practice project
Background
The Australian Federal Government, through Treasury has commissioned St James Ethics Centre to undertake a three year project to expand responsible business practice nationally.
The funding was announced at the 9th National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable Development in Parliament House, Canberra on Monday evening (19 May 2008) at the Fifth Corporate Responsibility Index (CRI) Awards dinner, where the honourable Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered an address on sustainability, climate change and Australia's role in global solutions. The Federal Government, through Treasury is providing funding to St James Ethics Centre of two million dollars over a period of three years (with the expectation that all initiatives will be self-funding after this time). Read the Prime Minister's speech.
The aim of the funded project is to promote responsible business practice in Australia which aligns with key themes emerging from the 2020 Summit. The goals of the project are noted as:
- To expand the number of Australian companies that are actively engaged in identifying and adopting more responsible business practices.
- To consider options to improve, and where necessary refine, the tools that are available to promote responsible business practices across all levels of corporate management.
In 2006 a Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services (PJC) initiated by the then Senator Penny Wong handed down its final report entitled Corporate responsibility: Managing risk and creating value which strongly supported voluntary development and wide adoption of corporate responsibility and sustainability reporting (as opposed to mandatory non-financial disclosure).
Later in 2006, Treasury’s Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee (CAMAC) report on the social responsibility of corporations advocated that the business community take the voluntary lead in responsible business practice, in lieu of a regulatory approach. In 2007 Treasury granted funding to St James Ethics Centre to expand responsible business practice in Australia and it is the intention of the Centre to fully and extensively develop this leadership initiative.
St James Ethics Centre and Responsible Business Practice
This is an exciting opportunity for St James Ethics Centre, which is uniquely placed within Australia to deliver the goals of the project through the following attributes:
- High levels of trust within the Australian business community.
- High level of respect within the general Australian community which understands that the Centre’s initiatives are based on developing the common good.
- Strong international links with key players in corporate responsibility and sustainability.
- Its trusteeship of the Corporate Responsibility Index – an initiative of Business in the Community (BITC) in the UK.
- The Centre's long-standing partnership with the National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable Development (NBLF), Australia’s first and most innovative network of business leaders committed to accelerating sustainability.
Definition- Responsible business practices (corporate responsibility) include "a company's positive impact on society and the environment through its operations, products or services and through its interaction with key stakeholders such as employees, customers, investors, communities and suppliers" (BITC).
The Funding will resource the Ethics Centre to engage with a wide group of companies including small and medium enterprises – which make up over 95% of businesses in Australia, and as such form a powerful and important stakeholder group in developing the nation’s social inclusivity, climate change adaptation/resilience and long-term sustainability agenda.
It is hoped that the project will also mitigate the pressure for further corporate regulation with a corresponding increase in self-initiated ethical decision-making – something which the Ethics Centre would encourage.
The Centre will work to source, refine and develop tools to engage and promote responsible business practices including the Corporate Responsibility Index. The key challenge for companies is how to address these issues systematically and it is here that the CRI ultimately assists - by providing a framework for implementation and a means to review thoroughly management systems and processes.
In addition a range of other excellent initiatives is already underway in Australia, and an important dimension of the project will be to work with the Forum and others to draw together key stakeholders and innovators to facilitate the flourishing of national networks and laboratories of best practice. The project will be characterised by collaboration, inclusivity and creativity.
Initiatives underway
- The National Partnership with the National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable Development (NBLF) which, from the beginning, has been the partner in supporting the Corporate Responsibility Index, and the vehicle with which the CRI results are prominently presented to the business and civic leadership community in Australia. The Forum is also where innovative efforts are made to involve more companies in the CRI tool through workshops and annual BITC speakers.
- The CRI Leaders Network - comprising ‘early adopter’ corporations, has been established to work with the Ethics Centre to achieve the goals of the project and to drive the uptake of responsible business practice nationally drawing on the experience and achievements of those in the Network. Such an agenda requires commitment, engagement and robust dialogue. Read more.
- SMEs and Responsible Business Practice - St James Ethics Centre reported on the first stage of its national research on Responsible Business Practice in Small to Medium Enterprises (conducted by the Allen Research Group) at the 9th National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable Development in Canberra on 20 May 2008. The first stage of the research serves to inform a more detailed and applied project into the future. Read more.
- Corporate Responsibility Tools - Reporting and Indexing - Initial discussions with the international leaders in corporate responsibility and sustainability reporting and indexing comprising the Corporate Responsibility Index (CRI), the SAM Sustainability Index (DJSI) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) with the purpose of working together to promote responsible business practice. Read more.
Further information
For further information about the Responsible Business Practice and the CRI Leaders Project in Australia please contact Rosemary Sainty at St James Ethics Centre by email: rbp@ethics.org.au or telephone: +61 (0)2 9299 9566. You can also visit the Corporate Responsibility Index website.