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Minister hints at new CSR law: regulation remains `a key tool', says Margaret Beckett.

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorHayward, Cathy
PositionCorporate Social Responsibility

Legislation is essential to force firms to act more ethically and report on environmental and social issues, according to experts on corporate social responsibility (CSR).

"Sustainable development is unobtainable unless the current regulatory environment is strengthened," said Chris Marsden, chairman of the Amnesty UK Business Group, speaking at a CSR conference organised by the Guardian.

Margaret Beckett, secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, said the case for voluntary CSR was strong. The Co-operative Bank, for example, had reported annual savings of 3.5 [pounds sterling] million by reducing its paper usage. But she acknowledged that the weakness of this approach was that CSR was worth the effort to businesses only where their interests and those of society converged.

The government's role was not only about regulation, Beckett stressed. Fiscal measures such as the climate-change levy, landfill tax and aggregates tax all encouraged responsible behaviour among companies too. "But the classical instrument of regulation is, and will remain, a key tool to help set the boundaries of behaviour," she said. "We need to have minimum standards to protect society and we need a level playing field to protect responsible business"

Most firms are happy to adopt socially responsible practices--until they adversely affect profits, according to Larry Elliot, the Guardian's economics editor. "When the City...

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