Tighter external scrutiny, expanding internal initiatives and rising penalties for noncompliance are pushing corporate social responsibility considerations into a more prominent position
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) concerns — and the willingness to report CSR and sustainability activities and issues — are becoming increasingly woven into the fabric of routine business practices, according to a recent survey.
The 2017 KPMG Survey of Corporate Responsibility, the 10th in a series that began in 1993, reviewed CSR and sustainability reporting from 4,900 companies in 49 countries and regions, and came up with some surprises as well as expected results (See infographic below).
Perhaps one of the most unexpected findings — at least, perhaps, to an outside industry observer — to emerge from the survey is that mining companies are high on the list of major industrial sectors that recognize the validity of human rights. Just under nine out of 10 (88%) mining respondents reported that they consider human rights to be a legitimate business issue. This level of acknowledgment compares with other resource-oriented industrial categories such as Oil & Gas (77%), Construction & Materials (71%) and Forestry & Paper (70%). However, mining’s high ranking on human rights concerns in the latest report isn’t just a statistical aberration, it has consistently scored strongly in similar KPMG surveys in the recent past.
