from Business World

IMPROVED MEASUREMENT of gains from corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs is needed but not to the point that government be called in to regulate such efforts, business leaders said in a forum yesterday.

We should be part of the solution to economic problems. We also have to close the gap of trust in the society, if not the rise against capitalism will only intensify,” Ayala Corp. President Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said at the second day of the 10th Asian Forum on CSR.

President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III similary urged firms to reach out: “At the time like this, it’s vital that business leaders like you should give greater efforts to show the true face of CSR. And we can show this by enacting education programs… conserving the effects of our business on the environment and doing what we can to make our businesses sustainable.”

Mr. Ayala identified three areas in which the impact of CSR programs should be monitored: economic, social and environmental.

Economic indicators of a program’s success include the distribution of fair wages and capital expenditures.

“We can still improve our profitability while improving the economic fabric of our community,” he said.

The social impact meanwhile can be reviewed by looking at fair labor practices, among others.

Scrutinizing energy consumption, carbon footprints and waste management meanwhile can be made to study a firm’s impact on the environment.

Mr. Zobel also said that firms may adopt a standard means of reporting such as that espoused by the Global Reporting Initiative, but it could also set its own metrics and indicators.

Edgar O. Chua, chairman of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, echoed Mr. Zobel.

“For example in our operation, if you build a gasoline station, the three should be present,” he said.

Improved CSR monitoring, however, should not entail government regulation, speakers at the event said.

While some CSR efforts are used to “thwart the community agency” according to Catherine C. Coumans, research director of Mining Watch Canada, it would be difficult to apply a blanket policy, said Makati Business Club Chairman Ramon R. del Rosario Jr.

“What is true for mining may not be true to another sector, large sectors and small sectors,” he said. -- C.H.C. Venzon