IMPACT project finalised - Final Conference 17&18 September 2013

IMPACT Project finalised - Final Conference 17&18 September 2013

For the past three years, IMPACT project, the largest European research to date on the topic of CSR has been active.

The project’s objective was to determine whether CSR measures contribute to meeting the EU goals of the Gothenburg and Lisbon strategies – growth, innovation, competitiveness, high job quality and environmental sustainability.

The Final Conference

The project reached its completion with the Final Conference in September 17&18 held in Brussels. The conference, brought together stakeholders from academia, business, network organisations, policy makers and general audience.

The main objectives of the conference were to: learn about the main findings of the project, discuss the project’s results and their implications in the context of emerging EU policies as well as discuss the implications of the project’s findings on management. Additional access to the project’s executive summary was granted. 

The welcome session with opening remarks provided by Viscount Etienne Davignon – Minister of State and former Vice President European Commission set the tone for a fruitful discussion. The main findings of the project and conclusions from the conference are captured in the following points:

1/ Sustainability issues seen as highly relevant - The project found that almost all small, medium-sized and large companies state that they conduct their own CSR activities and are aware of most of the sustainability issues specified in the survey.

2/ Large gap between awareness and activity - This strong awareness of sustainability issues does not always result in companies becoming active. The IMPACT project shows that this was not the case with six of the issues. 

3/ The question of whether CSR results in economic profit cannot be answered in a general way by the research project, it can only give a definite answer with regard to each specific issue.

4/ More political direction of CSR is needed - The results of the study clearly show that a 'more of the same ' approach will not bring about any fundamental change towards a sustainable economy. 

The programme and the power points presentations from each session can be accessed here. 

For more information on the conference, please click here to access the videos from the sessions.