June 12, 2003
Corporate Responsibility:
USCIB Links with Japan and EU at International CSR Forum
Japanese government and industry representatives have launched an effort to raise the profile of corporate responsibility through coordination with business groups from the United States and Europe. The initiative was announced at the International CSR Forum, held in Tokyo in late May under the sponsorship of the Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Japanese Standards Association.
To begin the process of international coordination, the forum brought together speakers from the Keidanren Council for Better Corporate Citizenship (CBCC), USCIB and CSR Europe to discuss the state of corporate responsibility in their respective regions and assess the potential for international standards.
Shizuo ("Ricky") Fukada, executive advisor with the Omron Corporation and chairman of the CBCC steering committee presented the view from Japan, indicating the belief that companies in Japan feel that they are behind their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe in addressing corporate responsibility. He also discussed the concern that Japanese companies have worked to adopt U.S. standards of corporate governance only to see the U.S. framework under go considerable change following domestic accounting scandals.
Adam Greene, USCIB’s director of environmental affairs and corporate responsibility, discussed the U.S. context to corporate responsibility, highlighting the convergence with corporate governance issues over the past few years. He reviewed the major U.S. trends in management integration, external reporting, joint initiatives and stakeholder engagement and assessed a number of continuing challenges, including supply chain management and operations in areas with inadequate government oversight.
Jan Noterdaeme, managing director of CSR Europe, presented the EU approach to corporate responsibility and the role of the EU Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on CSR. CSR Europe, which was itself launched by the EU Commission, consists of both EU and U.S.-based companies working on corporate responsibility issues, and is one of the business groups participating in the EU multi-stakeholder dialogue.
The International CSR Forum also focused on the current debate in the International Standards Organization (ISO) about whether to begin work on an international CSR standard. METI has organized a new group to study the ISO effort, and the company members of CBCC, including Sony, Toyota, NEC, Omron, Hitachi, Tokyo Electric and others, will also begin with a review of the ISO activity.
The Forum ended with a pledge from Keidanren's CBCC, USCIB and CSR Europe to continue to coordinate on international corporate responsibility initiatives.
Staff contacts: Adam Greene and Anna Walker
More on USCIB’s Corporate Responsibility Committee
