OREANDA-NEWS. May 19, 2008. A revolution is taking place in Eastern Europe, one that is not covered by the media. Kicking off the panel discussion, ‘Doing well by doing good: corporate social responsibility’, Thomas Eymond-Laritaz, President of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, said 10 years ago nobody was talking about corporate social responsibility (CSR), reported the press-centre of EBRD.

Now more and more local business leaders are doing good by adopting and supporting CSR principles. The business community has started to realise that doing CSR is good for business and makes sense economically.

We are also witnessing a transformation of leadership structures in Ukraine and other eastern European countries Mr Eymond-Laritaz said. Not long ago political leaders would also be owners of large corporations, now we are slowly seeing a clearer separation between the political and business spheres.

Andrew Wilson, Regional Vice President for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova at the Eurasia Foundation, identified several barriers hindering companies in the region in getting more involved in CSR. “There is an innate public suspicion of all things corporate,” he said. Consequently, companies do not face the same kind of pressures from the public to adopt CSR principles as they do in western Europe. They also don’t see the economic value of CSR.

What can companies do? Community partnerships (between the company, NGOs and local government) are important, Mr Wilson said. Companies need to engage NGOs and encourage their employees to volunteer. Also companies need to publicise what they are doing; it’s important for public awareness and helps stimulate other companies to follow their example.

According to Jock Menodoza-Wilson, Director of Corporate and Investor Relations at System Capital Management, CSR is first and foremost about business responsibility. “Companies need to focus on issues that matter for the long-term sustainability of the company,” he said. “The benefits for society follow naturally.”

“By taking certain actions we are certain that we are adding value to our company,” he said. Pillars of a sustainable business strategy include risk reduction efforts, efficiency improvements and introduction of international environmental standards, attracting and retaining the best employees, motivating and protecting the workforce through investing in training, development and thorough health and safety regulations and investing in the local community.

Igor Chestin, Director of WWF Russia highlighted that CSR does not stand on its own but depends on the market environment, regulations and the enforcement of regulations. “In Russia, for example, companies have no legal obligation to conduct environmental impact assessments.” A good test in assessing social responsibility standards in a country is the position of industry leaders on climate change mitigation. “If a company plans ahead it should take the necessary measures not as a threat but as a necessity.”

Companies should lobby for stricter environmental regulations than the governments currently agree on. “CSR is not just obeying the law, but about lobbying for strengthening regulations and going forward.”

Rodion Kolyshko, Head of NGO Relations at the Industrial Union of Donbass Corporation and Legal Advisor to the Confederation of Employers of Ukraine is part of a committee at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), developing a set of international standards, which will provide guidelines for social responsibility. These will be published in 2010 as ISO 26000 and will be voluntary.

Quoting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Mr Kolyshko said ISO standards are crucial to sustainable development, as they are a key source of technological know-how, especially for developing countries and economies in transition.

Panel moderator Tobias Webb, Founding Editor of Ethical Corporation summed up discussions by highlighting the difference between CSR and philanthropy, which is an individual charity with no impact on business. CSR is more about taking steps to improve the quality of life for employees and their families as well as for the local community and society at large. Sponsoring a tiger in a zoo is not CSR, it is personal charity he said. He urged companies to “keep sponsoring tigers” but not to call it CSR.