To study the impact of corporate social responsibility on adaptability and environmental sustainability
Student name: Ms Aishani Mathur
Guide: Dr Chubamenla Jamir
Year of completion: 2016
Host Organisation: Environmental Resources Foundation, Gurugram
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Danish Khan
Abstract: In this time and age when globalisation is at its peak in India, the gap between rich and poor is widening. Therefore, as we move into an era of industries and corporates, there has to be a sense of responsibility amongst them to be environmentally conscious and socially responsible. This is where the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility comes into play. CSR is a way for the companies to act responsibly and in a way which is sustainable. As per the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the every company that fulfils a certain criteria is supposed to perform CSR activities. This study aims to study the trends followed by the top 300 BSE listed companies in terms of their CSR activities and give suggestions to the companies as to how they can improve upon their CSR activities. It uses data from the company websites and for the second part, the 2011 census data and the precipitation data from the website of the Indian Meteorological Department. It also makes use of the information available on the State Disaster Management Authority about the recurring natural disaster trends in that particular area. What can be seen from the analysis is that almost half of the companies that were analysed perform CSR activities. It was also seen that only about three-fifth of the companies have mentioned their policy on their website. Education seems to be the most spent on activity by companies followed by health and sanitation. In most cases it was seen that rainwater management and watershed management were the most recommended activities for companies to do as most of the states were either suffering from droughts or floods. In conclusion, this study tries to focus on how CSR activities can be used as a way for companies to reduce the vulnerability of people to climate related disasters.
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, Adaptation, Vulnerability, Disaster Management
