ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the overwhelming movement presently driving towards corporate social responsibility (CSR). At the corporate level, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the World Economic Forum Global Corporate Citizenship Initiative has projected corporate responsibility in the minds of the international business elite. There are different traditions of CSR in the different regions of the world as there are different corporate governance institutions. In the Anglo-American world, CSR is often regarded in a more instrumental, market-oriented or philanthropic way. Similar forces that are impressing corporations towards taking a greater regard of CSR issues are guiding investment institutions towards addressing environmental, social and governance issues more directly in their investment policies and practices. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been a critical catalyst in this regard examining climate change, energy, ecosystem management, environmental governance, waste, resource efficiency and wider environmental issues of concern to corporations and investors.
