SD and CSR
The mis-match
Jan Bebbington
(Professor of Accounting & Sustainable
Development; Director, St Andrews
Sustainability Institute)
Quick CV
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Background
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Accountant then academia
Social & Environmental
accountant (focusing on
SD) & CSEAR
St Andrews Sustainability
Institute
Vice-Chair (Scotland)
Sustainable Development
Commission
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Research interests
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Reporting on SD (what the
narratives tell us)
Accounting for externalities
(in project decision making
… BP + construction +
public sector)
Governance for SD (&
‘technologies’ used)
Carbon accounting (just
starting)
Points I want to highlight
Brundtland – SD
conceptualisation & realisation
 Beyond
 CF
10 principles of SD (ICMM)
 Issues
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in linking CSR to SD
Entity focus
SD & systems change
social sustainability
The five principles of sustainable
development (UK framework)
LIVING WITHIN
ENVIRONMENTAL
LIMITS
ACHIEVING A
SUSTAINABLE
ECONOMY
ENSURING A
STRONG, HEALTHY
AND JUST SOCIETY
PROMOTING GOOD
GOVERNANCE
USING SOUND
SCIENCE
RESPONSIBLY
4
How are we doing? - I
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Living within
environmental limits
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Where do you start!
Every living system is
exhibiting signs of
considerable stress
(Millennium EcoSystem assessment &
biodiversity collapse)
Disruption of climate
system is a lynch-pin
issue
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Strong, healthy and
just economy
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No, not even in narrow
conventional terms
Gaps between
rich/poor in countries
are becoming
entrenched
Internationally this is
no way near being
achieved (Millennium
Development Goals)
How are we doing? - II
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Achieving a
sustainable economy
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See previous slide …
can’t be a sustainable
economy because
outcomes are not
achieved
Some progress re
pricing (carbon) but
(eg) most eco-systems
services at risk is off
market
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Promoting good
governance
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Some new institutions
exist and are effective
(IPCC)
But majority of core
governing has yet to
be appropriately
transformed
All elements of
governing needs
transformation
How are we doing? - III
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Using sound science
responsibly
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At times … but even
with climate change
this is lacking
• 80% reduction GHG by
2050
• Will come to about 550
CO2e ppm
• 99% – 77% probability
of exceeding 2oC
• 9% - 24% probability of
exceeding 4oC
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In summary
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Sorry … but there is
no sign that we have
done anything but
scratch the surface
and play around with
the SD agenda
This has implications
for how content we
would be with CSR
efforts
ICMM – SD framework, 10
principles
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Ethical business practices
& governance
Integrate in decision
making
Human rights & respect
Risk management
Continual improvement
(Health & Safety)
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Continual performance
(Environmental)
Biodiversity & land use
Product design, use,
reuse, disposal
Community interaction
Transparent engagement,
communication &
verification … in reporting
The mis-matches - I
 Entity
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focus
Ecological integrity is a systems concept vs
CSR which is organisationally focused
But, some hope vis a vis site reporting
Definition of ecological sustainability criteria &
comparison of performance to that standard
(cf continual improvement or performance
within a corporate risk context)
The mis-matches - II
 SD
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& systems change
Activities of one entity may be fine but …
Measuring & reporting on cumulative impacts
is relevant for eco-systems (& up-stream &
down-stream activities)
Who can produce these accounts?
How to deal with conflicts of interests that
arise from such maps?
The mis-matches - III
 Social
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sustainability
Multiple interactions (with in-built conflict &
power differentials)
Defining social sustainability standards is
highly problematic
What is social equivalent of carrying capacity?
Oxfam American study on social sustainability
& having extractive/minerals sector (negative
correlation)
Eg of an account of SD - ecological
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Eco-system functioning data & critical limits etc
A systems wide map of organisational & community
impacts on eco-system
Nesting of corporate (CSR) performance against
systems and mapping data
THEN – could say something about SD performance
(& remaining externalities created by corporate
activity)
That needs to be centre of decision making context
(cf added on with profitability at the core)
Most ‘easily’ developed in GHG … but needed for all
Concluding
 SD
and CSR are currently quite different
things but are connected
 SD
 We
requires a more systemic evaluation
are a long way from SD, the clock is
ticking … scale of transformation is
considerable