Redefining Corporate Social Responsibility

When General Electric first introduced its "Ecoimagination" initiative a few years ago, it appeared to be old-school Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), albeit a very hip and expensive version. It involved the company making announcements about and promising investments (some $700 million) in green initiatives to bolster its reputation on a growing wave of concern over climate change.

It started out with a promise to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions by 1% over an eight year period. GE caught the wave, however, and with the wind of better technologies at its back, it has already exceeded that goal by 400%.

Far from old-school, "Ecoimagination" illustrates a new re-definition of CSR. Early in the initiative, enlightened managers began to work to convert the innovations into "eco-certified" product offerings, like the new GE wind turbine.

Old CSR is deficit-driven. It is about protecting your reputation.

New CSR puts market forces behind social innovations.

When Walmart decides to use new compact fluorescent light bulbs in its stores, the result is huge energy and cost savings for the company. But when Walmart sells only these energy efficient light bulbs to its customers, the market impact is so big that the green dial truly moves.

When the three biggest cement manufacturers in the world join together to cut emissions by at least 20% for every ton of cement they make, that's news. But with the demand for cement growing 5% per year, it will be when they are able to produce stronger, more flexible varieties of cement to reduce the amounts used that they'll move the dial on this industry that accounts for some 5% of the world's emissions of greenhouse gases.

More exploration on new CSR, is available here. We'd love to hear our readers thoughts on these and other initiatives.

Carla E. Dearing