A New Year’s message from CSR Europe’s Executive Director, Stefan Crets

• European businesses cannot rely solely on compliance with the avalanche of EU sustainability regulations to ensure resilience and sustainability.

• The key to long-term growth lies in actively engaging with stakeholders across the entire value chain, reaching beyond European borders.

• CSR Europe's 2024 program champions this paradigm shift. Corporate members and NPOs are encouraged to join the 2024 Activity Program Kick-Off on 31st January.

As we step into the new year, the horizon is painted with hues of uncertainty and complexity. The latest Global Risk Report outlines this eloquently. The persistent conflict in Ukraine, now entering its third year, and the escalation of the Sino-American rivalry in the international arena cast a shadow of general insecurity and instability across the global landscape. Coupled with this, the relentless cost-of-living crisis and the rising social discontent, extreme weather events, the widening economic and technological divides further amplify the challenges that await our community of corporate sustainability leaders and the winners of the upcoming European elections.

The European industry is at a pivotal moment, grappling with higher stakes than ever before in the run to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 while transitioning to become fully sustainable, human-centric, and resilient. However, to be able to live up to these expectations, we have to safeguard and promote European industrialisation and the engagement of European businesses around the world. In other words, the EU sustainability agenda needs an EU investment agenda, for Europe and its partner countries. This requires companies and policymakers to step up their efforts to proactively engage with stakeholders in the global south, where the materials that underpin Europe's prosperity are sourced.

Sustainability’s Role: Go Beyond the Check-the-Box Approach

The current sustainability landscape often finds us ensnared in a compliance-focused paradigm, biased towards individual corporate responsibility. A check-the-box approach, fuelled by competing and conflicting regulatory requirements, has inadvertently transformed sustainability into a lucrative consultancy business. An air of risk avoidance permeates legal and compliance departments, further complicating the path towards true sustainability.

Yet, we must not lose sight of the broader purpose: retaining Europe’s industrial competitiveness and therefore prosperity. Efforts like the Commission’s European Global Gateway Strategy highlight how sustainability is not a standalone agenda, but an integral component linked to the resilience and self-reliance of businesses in Europe and the broader efforts to keep the European industry competitive. The intersection of these two agendas has the potential to drive substantial progress on the broader sustainability front, including the protection of the climate, biodiversity, and the pursuit of intergenerational social justice.

CSR Europe’s 2024 Agenda: Embrace a Transformative Journey from Compliance to Impact

The sustainability crux lies not in compliance alone but in cultivating impact and engagement both within Europe and beyond. Recognizing this imperative, CSR Europe has designed a comprehensive 2024 program, structured around the three fundamental pillars of our mission and vision: sustainability foundation, scale, and influence. Our commitment goes beyond equipping companies with practical knowledge to meet imminent sustainability regulatory demands; we are equally dedicated to fostering multi-stakeholder engagement throughout value chains and cultivating impactful partnerships beyond Europe, reaching key continents like Africa and Asia.

Pillar I Foundation: Learning and Implementing

Corporate members will enjoy exclusive access to a series of dynamic EU Masterclasses, offering in-depth explorations into critical topics such as CS3D and value chain reporting (March 21), value chain transparency and traceability required by the deforestation and forced labour regulations (May 16), win-win strategies for business collaboration on the CSRD and ESRS (October 3), and an overview of key figures propelling the sustainability agenda within the new EU Commission (December 11). To complement the 2-hour sessions, CSR Europe will provide policy briefs throughout the year.

Furthermore, corporate members will have the opportunity to participate in two new Atelier series, dedicated to crafting tailored improvement plans for social performance reporting and going beyond due diligence compliance. The eight events will mix online and offline formats to maximise best practice sharing from leaders, networking, shared problem-solving, and collaboration.

Finally, CSR Europe’s suite of services, including the EU Alignment, Double Materiality Assessment, Stakeholder Dialogue, and Grievance Management Assessment, also offers practical guidance to all the companies struggling to navigate the complexities of upcoming requirements.

Pillar II Scale: Multi-stakeholder collaboration

In 2024, CSR Europe is launching a new Alliance for Sustainable Management on biodiversity. The coalition of corporate members and National Partner Organisations aims to advocate biodiversity as a sustainability priority and the integration of solid biodiversity management strategies into business operations. This year will serve as incubation for the 2025 launch of a cross-sector collaborative platform on biodiversity, engaging peers and European policymakers.

Furthermore, we will continue to facilitate multi-stakeholder collaborative platforms to scale up impact across companies’ value chains across a wide variety of sectors and interested companies can express their interest in joining ongoing partnerships such as Drive Sustainability, Drive Plus, Responsible Trucking, and Together 4 STEM. 

Pillar III Influence: European and National Policy Dialogue

In February, CSR Europe will present its policy paper for a European Green and Social Deal 2024-2029 to the outgoing and incoming representatives of the European Commission, Parliament, and the Belgian and Hungarian Presidencies of the Council of the EU. At the same time, we will continue to work in the Commission’s Community of Practice on Industry 5.0., while engaging with several DGs on sustainable supply chains and raw materials sourcing, and the Social Investment Framework. Finally, we will continue to collaborate with EFRAG on voluntary SMEs European Sustainability Reporting Standards.

Corporate members and NPOs are invited to join us online on 31st January for the official 2024 Activity Program Kick-Off. We look forward to working closely with our members and extended network of partners to collectively transcend the limitations of compliance-driven approaches. Instead, let us concentrate on creating tangible impacts and fostering genuine engagements, even beyond our borders. Together, we have the power to make a profound collective impact on the world. Here's to a year of purpose, impact, and collaborative strides towards a sustainable future.

For more information:

Contact Stefan Crets

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