CSR Workshops - Statements

by Silvia Thaler, UR 11.04
ECOPROFIT® - the "ECOlogical PROject For Integrated Environmental Technology", is a programme for sustainable economic development. It encourages companies to take stock of their environmental situation and to develop measures to improve the environmental performance. ECOPROFIT was originally developed in 1991 by the Environment Department of the City of Graz. Since then it has spread to other Austrian regions and other EU Member States.

Among other awards the program received the “Sustainable Energy Europe Award 2008”, the "European Sustainable City Award 1996" and the "Dubai International Award for Best Practices to improve the Living Environment 2002".

An important factor of the success of ECOPROFIT® is the special way local authorities, businesses and consultants work together through common training programs and networking. This strong cooperation enables an effective flow of information and considerable synergies. The economic, ecological and social value of ECOPROFIT® complies with the three dimensions of sustainable development.

In the workshop I will present ECOPROFIT®, give important insights and tell you about my experiences. Further more I would like to work with you in groups to find out how my knowledge can help you, as a student organisation as well as private persons to implement CSR – strategies.

by Clemens Mader and Michael Schaller, Tba
We will start with some interactive games, describing how communication and networking leads to innovation and sustainable development. Then we start with two case studies: The first explains how 20 years of Fair Trade cooperation between Austria (Eine Welt Handel Austria) and Bangladesh (ASK Handicrafts) contribute to poverty alleviation. The second outlines how social networks supported the development of SEKEM Group in Egypt, a company awarded with the Alternative Nobel Price for "establishing a business model for the 21st century in which commercial success is integrated with and promotes the social and cultural development of society".

Together we will discuss different kinds of stakeholders groups as well as strengths weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the two cases and global networking.

by Philipp Gaggl, Tba
I will start the workshop about "CSR in Management" with a short impulse speech on the concept of CSR, recent research outcomes, worst cases and best practice examples as well as a short explanation of the
terms shareholder and stakeholder. The main part of the workshop deals with a business case study. You first spend time on challenges, demands, expectations, risks and chances and the second part of the case study deals with the development of an action plan, the structure and process, goals, communication and other important aspects you have to consider. Both parts will be shortly presented and there will be time for feedback and discussions. The goal of this workshop is on the one hand to deal with relevant questions concerning CSR in enterprises, and on the other hand to practically work out potential topics and solutions on a specific case study.

by Ines Omann, SR 11.06
Based on the scenario development process developed by UNEP and used for their GEO scenarios, I plan to make a scenario exercise with the participants of the workshop. We will develop storylines that tell possible future developments concerning CSR in our universities/institutes. The scenarios are built around driving forces and parameters that are important for the scenarios, however uncertain and can thus evolve in different directions. In the end we will have narratives of 3-4 scenarios that can be the starting point for implementing CSR in our institutions.

by Bettina Steinbrugger, Tba

In the first part of the workshop I will introduce myself and talk about past activities in the student organisation AIESEC. There I will emphasise on the role of students and stress that they can affect something. Afterwards I will tell you something about my actual function at respACT (The Austrian Business Council for Sustainable Development). Therefore I will present the different tasks of respACT and explain how and why enterprises implement CSR – strategies. I will talk about advantages as well as disadvantages and how important special honours can be.

The second part of the workshop will explain our function as the Austrian interface of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), dealing with questions like: What is the UNGC? How can it contribute to a positive development of enterprises? Another important task will be the “Communication on Progress” – Report, which members have to prepare.

In the last part, I would like to work together with the students. We will try to invent an award for a sustainability report or an awesome CSR measure, which can also be implemented in oikos.