While the principles and practices of corporate social responsibility date back more than a century, the current wave of public, business and academic interest in the subject is unprecedented.

Its contemporary importance is reflected in the number and size of social and ethical investment funds, the increase of voluntary codes of corporate conduct, and the number of companies that now report on their social and environmental practices. It is also evidenced by the mobilisation of non-governmental organisations to challenge corporate environmental and human rights practices, the frequency of consumer boycotts and protests, the number of third-party organisations that now monitor and report on corporate social and environmental performance and the emergence of various “ethical” brands and labels.

Equally important, corporate social responsibility has for the first time become a global phenomenon: its principles and practices have been embraced by business leaders in the US, Europe, Japan, and a number of developing countries.

Upcoming Ethical Corporation conferences & events:
How to manage Social & Environmental Risk in the mining, oil & gas, steel and other heavy industries
London, 22-23 March 2010 The Responsible Business Summit 2010
Novotel West Hotel, London, 4th – 5th May 2010 The Inaugural Ethical Corporation Awards
Novotel West Hotel, London, Evening of 4th May 2010
The Awards will be held at the Responsible Summit -
on the evening of the first day
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