John Russell, managing editor: The predictions we made for 2007 seemed to have been generally borne out by events. Where do you see things going in 2008 on the corporate social responsibility front?

Paul Hohnen, Ethical Corporation advisory board member: Yes, the expected “ABC” focal points of Africa, BRICs [Brazil, Russia, India and China] and climate change were not far off the mark, and will continue to be prominent in 2008. Overall, we will continue to see a shift away from the philanthropy and volunteering end of the CSR spectrum towards a more integrated sustainability strategy, where enterprises evolve their business model towards more measurable contributions to sustainable development. And more challenges on the question of how far voluntary and free-market measures can take us to where we need to be in terms of meeting the challenges of climate change, human health, sustainable growth and the like.

JR: Climate change is set to dominate the business and political agenda in 2008. What progress do you see being made?

Please login to view whole article - or subscribe here.

For a free two week trial to Ethical Corporation online, please click here.