The role that governments can play in promoting corporate social responsibility (CSR), and in particular sustainability reporting,  is a hot topic, evident from the recent EU conference held in Paris by the French EU presidency, the French Council  and the European Commission, entitled Partnership and transparency at the heart of European Corporate Social Response.

As sustainability reporting is arguably an essential corporate social responsibility tool, Teresa Fogelberg, Deputy Chief Executive of GRI, was present at this conference to speak about the roles that governments could play in advancing engagement by  business and governmental agencies. 

Teresa’s presentation outlined several options available to governments, such as: stimulating organizations to report through policy instruments such as national  CSR and sustainability reporting strategies; stimulating measures such as national reporting benchmark contests; using regulation to enforce sustainability reporting, as has been done for state-owned companies in countries such as Sweden and China (similar approaches are under consideration in some other countries); leading by example by making a sustainability report for the government itself; or committing to global public good initiatives through financial support. Teresa also highlighted that governments should take advantage of learning from others that have already made progress, and not try to reinvent the wheel. 

Global instruments, such as the principles of the UN Global Compact, the GRI guidelines and the Earth Charter are available as a free public good and are a common-sense starting point for exploration of the CSR world. Additionally, GRI’s newly installed Governmental Advisory Group provides a platform for members of various governments to exchange experiences and ideas about sustainability reporting and CSR best practice.