The European Alliance for Corporate Social Responsibility is made up of European companies and business organizations. Its goal is to promote CSR partnerships and encourage an exchange of experiences. All companies are called upon to support this alliance. It is a company’s commitment that counts, not the fulfillment of bureaucratic requirements.

 The Alliance began with a communication on CSR issued by the European Commission on March 22, 2006, entitled “Implementing the Partnership for Growth and Jobs: Making Europe a Pole of Excellence on CSR.”

  The CSR Alliance is intended for companies within the European Union, whatever their size or industry. It offers these companies:

• Increased public awareness of their CSR activities
• Support for networking
• An exchange of ideas and contact with European CSR experts
• An opportunity for discussion, an exchange of views and the dissemination of good practices
• Development of new partnerships
• CSR dialogue with the European Commission at the highest levels

 The business community itself determines which topics are to be addressed as well as which should be given priority. The European Commission’s communication listed the following areas for action, which could be expanded as necessary:

• Fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in sustainable technologies, products and services which address societal needs
• Helping SMEs to flourish and grow
• Assisting enterprises to integrate social and environmental considerations in their business operations, especially those in the supply chain
• Improving and developing skills for employability
• Better responding to diversity and the challenge of equal opportunities taking into account the demographic changes alongside the rapid aging of the European population
• Improving working conditions, also in cooperation with the supply chain
• Innovating in the environment field with a special focus on integrating eco-efficiency and energy savings in the product and service creation process
• Enhancing proactive dialogue and engagement with all relevant stakeholders
• Further addressing the transparency and communication challenge to make the non-financial performance of companies and organizations more understandable for all stakeholders and better integrated with their financial performance
• Operating outside the borders of the European Union in a socially and environmentally responsible way as companies do inside the European Union

Interested companies work together in “open coalitions of cooperation” and hold thematic “laboratory meetings.” Stakeholders (e.g. selected nongovernmental organizations and trade unions) and external experts may also participate. The European Commission may provide support for these events upon request.

Also planned are regular high-level meetings with the EU Commission for the purpose of presenting examples of good practices and taking stock of what has been accomplished.

 Companies that would like to support the Alliance are welcome to express their interest to the Federation of German Industries [Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie, BDI] or the German National Union of Employer Associations [Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände, BDA] at any time. BUSINESSEUROPE, The Confederation of European Business and its national member federations coordinate the activities of the CSR Alliance. They constitute a liaison body between the companies in the Alliance and the EU institutions, which seeks to strengthen contacts between businesses and promote cooperation between interested companies.

In Germany, BDA and BDI provide information about current developments in the CSR Alliance.