Russia may at last have its first big corporate player in the corporate
social responsibility field. Moscow-based Rusal, which produces a tenth
of the world’s aluminium, has created the senior post of deputy general
director for sustainability and last month produced its first social
report outlining the next few years’ targets.
The appointment and the report amount to the most dramatic recent
progress in the field by any company in a country where corporate
commitment to socially responsible conduct has been desultory at best.
Rusal, one of Russia’s largest businesses, has given Duncan Hedditch
the job of sustainability director with a brief to lead the company’s
efforts on issues such as labour standards and environmental
performance. Hedditch moves over from his previous post as managing
director of Rusal’s Australian operations.
Alexander Bulygin, the chief executive, said the company was determined
to be ‘guided by the social responsibility principles that are shared
by the majority of developed countries’ and would try to take a
leadership position in Russia. ‘We believe it’s critical for Rusal to
take a proactive role in building a sustainable foundation for economic
development in Russia,’ he said.
Targets include a pledge to dramatically reduce pollutant emissions by
2012, expand existing support for educational programmes, sports
projects and orphanages, and establish a charitable donations programme
for employees with matching funds from the company.
Rusal’s 63-page report shows the business has already made some gains.
The injury rate at production plants has fallen by 51 per cent in four
years and the company gives about $10million (£5.5m) every year to
charity.
Russian companies have been conspicuous by their absence on the CSR
landscape. A recent report by the Russian Managers Association
concluded that corporate responsibility in the country is ‘disorganized
and chaotic’, partly due to the ‘immaturity’ of the business
sector but also because of government inaction (EP6, issue 11, p8).
Brook Horowitz, who heads the International Business Leaders Forum in
Russia, said corruption, crime and poor corporate governance were
hampering progress. ‘The law doesn’t make it painful enough for
companies not to be corrupt,’ he said.
Svetlana Bolotova of the United Nations Development Programme, which
co-ordinates the Global Compact in Russia, said businesses lack
‘external drivers’ to become more transparent, such as investor
scrutiny, media attention and pressure from campaigners.
She said greatest progress was being made by firms, such as Rusal, looking for access to bigger markets.
‘They’re beginning to see that CSR can make them more competitive and
more credible with investors,’ she said. Rusal had a $5.4bn turnover
last year and employs 50,000 people in seven Russian regions and 11
foreign countries.
