Thirty civil society organizations in Germany have created a new CSR
group to persuade companies to do more on corporate responsibility.
The Berlin-based German Network for Corporate Accountability – known as
CorA – will encourage public debate on corporate responsibility in
Germany and intends to push companies into becoming involved in
socially responsible programmes and policies.
In September an inquiry into the state of CSR by the German Council for
Sustainable Development concluded that progress has been too slow and
that too few German enterprises are active (EP7, issue 11, p4).
The development groups, consumers’ associations, trade unions and
church bodies that founded CorA include Global Policy Forum Europe,
Greenpeace Deutschland and Oxfam.
The new body’s founding statement says it will focus mainly on German
multinationals and human rights in their supply chains, and will seek
regulation on CSR both within Germany and at the European level. It
wants company directors and managers held legally liable for human
rights infringements abroad.
However, it will also call for tax incentives to promote responsible
business practice, campaign for social reporting, and lobby for social
and environmental clauses in government procurement contracts and trade
agreements with other countries.
CorA’s stance on regulation may put it on a collision course with many
German companies, which, like most of those in Europe, favour the
voluntary approach. Antje Gerstein, of the Confederation of German
Employers’ Associations, which runs a network of German companies
interested in CSR, said CorA’s insistence on regulation looked
‘unrealistic’ and was unnecessarily confrontational. Andreas Steinert,
a Bonn-based CSR consultant, told EP that German companies want to work
in alliances with NGOs rather than respond to campaigns.
