Investments in the environment, corporate social responsibility, sustainable development, a new platform for global growth

In the age of global change and challenges, when sustainable development becomes not simply a trend but a vital necessity, the idea of creating comfortable, safe and sustainable living conditions becomes especially relevant. The new platform for global growth imposes a serious challenge on businesses: revisit their role in society and actively contribute to creation. Todays, corporate social responsibility is no lon­ger viewed as a nice statement or a marketing trick; it becomes a real standard that determines the level of long-term success and competitive standing of companies.

Today’s world is facing unprecedented challenges, including climate change, social inequality and geopolitical instability. These factors adversely affects peo­ple’s quality of life, economic productivity and sustainability of development. Under these conditions, business, with its substantial resources, technologies and innovation potential, can and must play a key role in solving these problems. (World Economic Forum, “The Global Risks Report 2023”). Corporate social responsibility becomes not simply a good will gesture but a strategic imperative that opens new avenues for growth and development. Responsible business nurtures the trust of consumers, attracts talents, boosts investor loyalty and improves corporate reputa­tion, which ultimately has a beneficial effect on financial indicators.

We assume that corporate social responsibility-based investment initia­tives and solutions implemented under the new platform for global growth can contribute to establishing more comfortable, sustainable and safe living envi­ronment. This hypothesis is corroborated by numerous studies demonstrating a positive relationship between corporate social responsibility and sustainable development.

According to a McKinsey study (Measuring the value of stakeholder capi­talism, 2020), companies implementing social responsibility programmes have higher revenue and profit growth rates than non-aligned businesses. The reason behind this trend is that the consumers increasingly prefer brands that care about the environment and society, and investors pay more attention to ESG (environ­mental, social, governance) factors when making investment decisions.

Moreover, corporate social responsibility is an important driver that helps to build a more sustainable and inclusive economy. Investments in education, health­care, infrastructure and other socially important projects reduce social inequality, improve living standards and create new jobs. (UNDP, “Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022”).

Corporate social responsibility has an important impact on both the economic and social environment. For instance, companies that are guided by social respon­sibility principles gain a competitive edge, and investors increasingly prefer com­panies with high ESG indicators.

In addition, solving social and environmental problems serves as a catalyst to innovation and the development of new technologies. Socially responsible busi­ness strives to guarantee equal opportunities for all members of society by building systemic and institutional trust between business, government and society. Finally, we would like to add that by solving social problems we would ease social tensions and increase social stability.

There is a range of vectors that define a successful socially oriented business strategy. First, the development of “green” energy, whereby investments in renew­able energy (solar, wind, hydro) help reduce the dependency on fossil fuels, slash greenhouse gas emissions and create new jobs in the economy. (IRENA, Renew­able Energy Statistics 2023). Second, it is important to mention the environmen­tally friendly technologies. For example, investments in the development and implementation of green technologies in industry, transport and agriculture help reduce their negative environmental impact and improve the quality of life among the population.

Third, investments in education and science increase the population’s educa­tion level, help develop the national innovation potential and create new opportu­nities for economic growth. Fourth, the development of social infrastructure that comes with education and science (medical facilities, educational institutions, sports facilities, cultural centres) would improve the standards of living and make people’s life much more comfortable.

Fifth, corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives launched by many big factories to alleviate social issues in their respective regions help develop the local communities, encouraging local civil society and effective resolution of local issues.

An emphasis on effectiveness and comprehensive programmes, orientation towards public values and civil society involvement — all these trends herald a tran­sition to coordination-based government. The state interested in ensuring control­lability is looking for new forms of interaction with society, based on cooperation rather than subordination. Emerging political networks bring together various decision-making centres and harmonize social connections using social manage­ment techniques (Smorgunov, 2009: 229).

The coordination-based government, which builds its platform on the basis of ESG principles, relies upon a political network model that is based on interde­pendence, relaxed government control and interactive collaboration. However, it is important to differentiate between resource-seeking networks and networks aimed at sharing responsibility and maintaining a balance of interests. Structural network properties, such as centralization and decentralization, greatly affect the nature of participant interactions and the effectiveness of decisions made.

A key element of coordination-based government is knowledge, which is subject to management technologies aimed at supporting interactions between network participants in the process knowledge production, reproduction and cir­culation. The concept of governance stresses the importance of interactions and the government’s desire to play the coordinator role in a multilevel management system, which contributes to the eventual development of collective goals and har­monization of connections with state policy goals and social responsibility of all actors involved in dialogue platforms (Smorgunov, 2011: 89).

The focus on people also catalyzed the search for new “points of comfort” in customer interactions. Companies are trying to retain the attention of customers, especially from among the new alpha generation, which is highly loyal to digital platforms they got accustomed to at an early age. This forces businesses to create comprehensive ecosystems of services and solutions, which becomes a “new nor­malcy” and forces governments to adapt by offering similar integrated approaches and deepening cooperation with business in order to solve social issues, giving an extra push to the “coordination-based” approach.

Corporate social responsibility has become a prologue to a transition from lobbying to building long-term constructive relationships with government authorities, which led to the development of GR management. A turn toward human-centred approaches in business gave an impetus to fundamental political management concepts, changing approaches to management and making them more sensitive to KPIs and social effects. This encouraged the development of new public management and governance concepts, helping to strengthen pub­lic trust in political institutions and unite citizens in efforts to face global chal­lenges.

So, to summarize, it should be mentioned that investments in the environ­ment based on corporate social responsibility principles are a key driver of sus­tainable development and creation of comfortable, safe and sustainable living conditions. Corporate social responsibility has to be a new standard on which the company’s success and competitiveness in the long run will hinge. ESG principles, both now and in the future, help improve the quality of life in various communities, reduce social inequality, boost economic productivity, improve social stability and strengthen systemic trust of the traditional tripartite model participants — busi­ness, government and society — ultimately creating a strong and inclusive national economy.