Does corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting matter?
As companies like Whole Foods, Virgin, Google, and even Wal-Mart invest in doing the right things for society and the environment through buying wind energy, installing gargantuan solar panel systems, and reducing packaging waste, the hottest trend is to package it all up into 50-100 glossy pages of lawyer-proofed corp speak and heart warming pictures, touting the significant accomplishments of one’s own company. Welcome to the somewhat controversial yet big business of CSR reporting.
Does anyone read CSR reports? Do they actually accomplish anything? Are some companies focusing so much on reporting that they are forgetting to look deeper into their businesses for opportunities to do the right things for society and the environment? Join me as I call bullshit at OpenEco Energy Camp 2008, when I’ll be leading a breakout session with Marcy Lynn, Sun Microsystems‘ CSR Program Manager, who coincidently hopes that CSR reporting as we know it is something we will look back on and laugh about a few years from now, since no one is reading anyway (compare the less than 1,000 who read the CEO letter on the first page to Sun’s 33,000 employees).
Event details:
What: OpenEco Energy Camp, sponsored by Sun Microsystems
When: Thursday, January 10, 2008, opening session starts at 10:00 am
Where: Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco, CA
Cost: Free
Featured guests:
- L. Hunter Lovins, President and Founder of Natural Capitalism, Inc. (co-author, Natural Capitalism)
- Ted Nordhaus, Chairman of The Breakthrough Institute
- Michael Shellenberger, President of The Breakthrough Institute
- Adam Werbach, Founder and CEO of Act Now (the guy Wal-Mart is paying a boat load of money to change everything about their business)
- Dave Douglas, VP of Eco Responsibility at Sun Microsystems
- Special Eco Short Film Presentation facilitated by Sharon Badal, Short Film Programmer for the Tribeca Film Festival and Tom Feegel, Founder and Principal of Brand Neutral
What are you waiting for? Register here and pass it along on Facebook.
March 1st, 2008 at 8:08 am
would love to know what you see as the alternative? have been thinking about that a lot myself lately.