International Frameworks Workshop to Look at Coming Changes for Business

International CSR and sustainability experts Paul Hohnen and Jonathon Hanks will be in Australia next month to provide their unique take on how the array of international frameworks on CSR and sustainability can be used to improve organisational performance. 

These frameworks have been developed or endorsed by governments, the United Nations, or by thousands of stakeholders around the world working collaboratively over many years to agree on the most practical ways to interpret and implement social responsibility.

Paul and Jonathan will take participants through the processes and challenges involved in applying the frameworks to develop CSR strategies and using the frameworks in conjunction with one another.

ACCSR says that with talk of the next generation of GRI Guidelines – the G4 – on the horizon for 2012, and the current update of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, there has never been more focus on the implications of international frameworks for business.

The changing environment of the business world has pushed the OECD to consider updating the guidelines, expected to be finalised by May 2011, to make them more relevant and usable for the future. These changes are anticipated to focus human rights, climate, supply chain management and governance issues and ensure the OECD Guidelines’ role as a leading international framework for responsible business practice, as well as increasing their relevance and clarifying private sector responsibilities.

The update has been subject to multi-stakeholder consultation with diverse stakeholder groups like OECD Watch and experts such as Professor John Ruggie, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises. The update is also expected to allow for greater ease of use in conjunction with the GRI, UN Global Compact and ISO 26000 guidance standard on social responsibility.

Paul was also involved in the OECD update and recently explained to Ethical Corporation what these update may look like and how they will affect businesses.

“The updated guidelines will represent the latest thinking is on what responsible business practices look like between now and 2020”.

International Frameworks for Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility will be held in:

Melbourne: February 14th-15th

Sydney: February 17th-18th

Perth: February 24th-25th

Paul Hohnen, ACCSR Senior International Associate, is special adviser to the GRI and the UN Global Compact, and one of three designated “Friends of the OECD Guidelines”; and an international sustainability consultant, speaker and author based in Amsterdam. A former Australian diplomat, he has worked intensively with the UN, with NGOs and with businesses on sustainable development issues since 1989. Paul has served on the OECD Expert Panel on CSR, and represented the GRI in the International Organisation for Standardisation’s Working Group on Social Responsibility to develop ISO 26000.

Jonathon Hanks chaired the international multi-stakeholder drafting team that developed the ISO 26000. Jonathon is the founding partner of Incite Sustainability, a leading independent South African consultancy. He is also a Senior Associate of the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership, and a Visiting Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business where he lectures on corporate sustainability policy on the MBA and Executive MBA programmes. Jonathon keynoted ACCSR’s 2010 Annual Conference and returns to Australia by popular demand.

More information about the workshop can be found on the ACCSR website http://www.accsr.com.au/html/learning2011_internationalframeworksCSR.html.

Information on how to register for the workshops can be obtained by contacting ACCSR workshop@accsr.com.au or 03 9826 1767.