What are the biggest challenges facing CSR in the next decade?

Climate change is the most important challenge in a global perspective. The company must take their responsibility to deal with. Promoting concern on the climate change to all stakeholders is mandatory as a world citizens. Conducting the community development program in relation with climate change, like as "climate friendly village development" will beneficiary to the communities as well as the environment/planet.

Some of the biggest challenges facing CSR are: a. Increasing compliances with regard to CSR funds- this effects all stakeholders in the implementation chain. b. Volatile and unpredictable funding environment: Companies themselves are facing challenges in an ever changing regulatory, competitive and customer landscape. c. Finding the "sweet spot" between long term strategic programs requiring the right funding and short term tactical programs which brings in outreach and regional reputation

Ensuring transparency and accountability across complex global supply chains poses a significant challenge. Companies must tackle concerns such as child labor, unethical sourcing, and environmental harm within their supply chains

Measuring and reporting social and environmental impact can be complex due to the lack of standardised metrics and the long-term nature of many CSR initiatives. Businesses face pressure to deliver short-term financial results, which can create a tension between CSR initiatives and short-term profitability. Businesses need to integrate CSR into their overall strategies to align with both short-term and long-term goals.

- Economic, social, political and geopolitical polarization - Ease of spreading misinformation and manipulative material in both social media and centrally controlled public media - Erosion of democracies - Threat of raising of dictatorial and totalitarian tendencies -> ease of ignoring science -> CSR gets side-tracked and marginalised

In the evolving CSR landscape amid digital transformation, key challenges shape the next decade. - Digital Inequality: Bridging the digital divide is crucial. CSR should extend beyond technology provision, including programs for digital literacy and infrastructure. - Healthcare Disparities: CSR faces the challenge of responsibly implementing digital health solutions for improved healthcare access. - Education Accessibility: The digital education gap calls for CSR to provide access to digital tools and literacy programs for the digital era. - Cybersecurity Risks: Beyond philanthropy, CSR should involve cybersecurity education and investments in secure technologies to safeguard communities.

Due to digital migration the understanding of CSR is evolving without considering the impact of the digital. The CSR interventions needs to be developed in the digital arena as well.

The biggest challenge in CSR delivery, is three major problem areas: 1. Skill and capability development of CSR Team to identify CSR Program Need Analysis, which is synchronized with business strategy. This is now missing completely in India. 2. Converting CSR Programs into Numerical KPI scale. 3. Corruption prevention in CSR, through regular Social Audit practice from small to big companies.

A pesar de que la IA reemplace ya algunas funciones de algunos cargos, la gestión del cambio empezará a tomar un papel mucho más relevante en todas las áreas de las empresas, representando asi una oportunidad de crecimiento profesional y corporativa. Todo depende y dependerá de la actitud que se tome frente al cambio venidero para que no haya un choque que afecte los principios de las empresas y no represente riesgos de ningún tipo en cuanto a su visión de la RSC.

Digitalisation of businesses and governments, provision of equal digital access to all layers of society by providing adequate education and means.

Le plus grand défi de la décennie pour la RSE est bien la lutte contre le réchauffement climatique et la raréfaction des ressources (qu'il faut arrêter d'extraire au plus vite pour les non-renouvelables) sinon rien d'autres ne sera possible...

In fact, climate change and adaptation to circularity are the growing challenges to every business. The growing concerns on increasing carbon footprints, and waste has given the world a paradigm shift from social aspects of business to environmental aspects. Hence, the horizon of CSR is going to expand, while major focus will be on environmental aspects of business.

this is one of the most important topics for company to consider, not only in the CSR space but in the overall corporate strategy. And it is not just about how to mitigate climate change, also how to adapt to climate changing future which is already happening now. A company needs to consider its physical risks as well as its transition risks. And as CSR, it is also about what the employees working condition and mental state would need in the changing climate, and how the company can support the communities where it is active to be aware of needs of climate adaption. For example in the future of more frequent extreme weather events, how can the communities to be better prepared, trained, and recover afterwards.

As far as I am concerned, we need to understand where we are positioning ourselves amongst the living species. Our way of living is impacting the quality of life of humans and non-humans. We need to be seriously conscious of that and do our utmost to protect our mother earth and its inhabitants. I truly believe that we need to respect life and act as guardians of our blue planet.

Climate change and adaptation is a challenge to society, government, multilateral organization and companies. RSE teams could deliver a decisive role through developing a consistent action plan inside companies to face that challenge, whether through business, corporate relationships or philanthropic investment.

Stakeholders in CSR are evolving, with established corporations shifting from charity to responsible partnership, while others remain in a charity-oriented mode. The mushrooming of new civil societies focusing on CSR projects, with limited community understanding, and the emergency of “Maharatan NGOs”who work very professionally but may lack passion for transformation presents a challenge. Growing government audit and scrutiny may prompt corporate leaders to prioritize funding for government projects. The absence of standardized impact measurement and the challenge of identifying short-term sustainable projects add complexity. Overcoming these obstacles necessitates a convergence of minds.

Most corporates cherry pick what they report to include only favorable aspects. They must be more comprehensive to build trust that they are presenting a complete picture of the impact of their activities.

The erosion of trust across audiences in government and organizations is a major issue. With misinformation and fake news permeating all channels it becomes harder and harder to communicate authentic, reliable fact checked information. Fake news (often sensational and polarizing) spreads 7x faster than real news. The more concrete your CSR goals and results the better to avoid accusations of greenwashing.

Stakeholder expectations are dynamic and continually evolving. In the next decade, there will likely be an increased demand for transparency, authenticity, and tangible impact from CSR initiatives. Stakeholders, including customers, employees, investors and communities, are becoming more discerning, seeking not only well-intentioned efforts but measurable and sustainable outcomes. The challenge lies in aligning CSR strategies with these shifting expectations and effectively communicating the value created.

Hier stellt sich eine grunds?tzliche Frage: muss Stakeholder zentriert gearbeitet werden oder unter Berücksichtigung von Stakeholdern. Es kann sonst passieren, dass man macht was andere wollen, ohne dass es in das eigene Konzept passt. Dann verw?ssert der eigene Anspruch.

Innovation and agility is what we expect from private sector/corporates and what justifies the social risks of balancing free market versus state guided approaches. But corporates need clear outcomes to achieve which define their purpose rather than simply ameliorate or complicate it. Hence CSR - while better than nothing - will not get us there. The market they face must require verifiable outcomes with automatic rewards that will guide the energy and resource allocation of companies. So what if we think of designing CSR in terms of a very limited number of outcomes which are independently verifiable and explicitly linked to shareholder value (redefined?). Then let them pursue the how and watch the magic happen.

We are living in an ultra fast paced times. Innovation and agility are therefore vital skills. The technology is getting upgraded almost each new day and launching a project without technological backing is unimaginable for it offers many simple solutions and processes which reduces the time and distance constraints. For ex. raising a charity, or sharing educational resources. Innovation, even in the way the CSR Project is executed, can bring huge success. For ex. co-creating workshops with organisers, employees, communities attached and experts. It’s a psychological fact that novelty breeds interest. The innovation keeps the fire amongst the stakeholders alive, binds and brings them together due to its novelty.

J'observe que les entreprises tendent à aborder la RSE uniquement sous le prisme environnemental. L'un des enjeux sera de ne pas perdre de vue les enjeux de justice sociale. L'un ne va pas sans l'autre.

The biggest challenge for CSR in the next decade will be to create a balance between Social Responsibility & Sustainability. Due to growing demands from the stakeholders, the business world is getting more and more sensitive towards ESG and hence, CSR is slowly losing its ground to environmental aspects of business. The rising demand on ESG disclosures and pressure from investors would change the role of CSR professionals to more of an ESG professional. In other terms, the shifting will happen from engagement to disclosure.

One big challenge is narrow field vision. Often what becomes “trendy” can lead to a big push in one area that causes negative impacts in another. Sustainability is complicated, and while it is important to focus, getting caught up in trends can lead to dangerous results

CSR's growing importance means tighter and evolving global regulations. And in order to keep up, companies must invest more in tracking legal changes and align their CSR activities accordingly, especially across different regions. Staying compliant will be resource-intensive but necessary.

we should think about regeneration and regenarative business... Another topic is Nature Based Solutions and environmental services... would it be possible to think about not grow any more? can the planet support a continuos economy increasing?