Rafael Nunez Aponte: Has CSR Evolved through the History?

History of CSR

All participants of the society expect business to be carried out in an ethical and socially responsible way. Today, many companies are recognizing the need to balance environmental, social, and governmental issues. And, even most of them have begun to implement practices in their day to day operations, demonstrating how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) should be a fundamental value. Stay here and know more about this important topic through a brief journey into the history of CSR for you to see how it has evolved and changed according to the societies’ needs.

Everything started in 1960, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development convention was created to promote policies with the intention to achieve sustainable economic growth and employment. Fifteen years later the "Impact and Benefit Agreements" between Canadian Aboriginal groups and extractive sector companies started. The aim was to create commitments by the company for employment, and training about projects constructed near Aboriginal communities.

The years continue to pass, and humanity started to need more, of course; five years later, in 1980, the International Union for Conservation of Nature created The World Conservation Strategy, which was and important move that had the aim of identifying the main responsible actors of

habitat destruction such as:  

• poverty,
• population pressure,
• social inequity, and
• the terms of trade.

After that, the UN Earth Summit was held in Brazil, where a new business model, as well as the idea of using sustainable development to a company's competitive advantage was applied.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

In 1993, the launch of the Whitehorse Mining Initiative took these initiatives to the signing of the WMI Leadership Council Accord in 1994 in order to achieve a sustainable mining industry within the framework of an evolving and sustainable Canadian society. Five years later, Canada, along with Natural Resources Canada, IDRC, and the leadership of IISD, organized a workshop in Peru. The event brought together 11 countries from Latin America and Canada in order to work towards a sustainable future in the region.