S'pore companies pledge commitment to corporate social responsibility
By Chow Penn Nee, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 20 April 2007 1750 hrs

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SINGAPORE: 41 Singapore companies have pledged their commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR).

They inked the United Nation Global Compact (UNGC) letter, promising to support values like human rights and fair labour standards in the workplace.

The event is part of the Business for the Environment Global Summit, which ended on Friday.

According to the UN, companies have to pay attention to ethical values in the environmental and social spheres as investors place more premium on those that embrace fair practices.

George Kell, Executive Director, UN Global Compact, said: "For companies operating increasingly on a global and regional level, the importance of an ethical compass is obvious.

"Failure to do so would mean not being able to manage risk and running the potential threat of doing things wrong and causing a huge damage to the brand."

So UN Global Compact started an initiative to encourage businesses to support socially responsible values.

The UN Global Compact Letter hopes to give the companies a more "human face" and empower them to make a difference in their workplace.

Mr Kell said: "The UNGC promotes 10 universal principles covering areas of human rights, workplace, environment and anti-corruption. It's voluntary and it calls upon business leaders to embrace the principles to make a commitment and to translate this commitment into practical actions, strategies and operations."

Some 3,000 businesses in 80 countries have pledged support to this cause.

In Singapore, 41 companies have also joined the initiative.

They include names like NTUC FairPrice, Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, Citibank Singapore and MediaCorp.

Alice Tan, Chief Marketing Officer, MediaCorp, said: "CSR reminds us that there's another world out there. All the things we're doing as CSR are purely voluntary."

Companies which have committed their support will have to share, on an annual basis, how their corporate social responsibility actions are implemented.


- CNA/so