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CSR Sweden and CSR Europe join forces in gigantic national event, Almedalen Week

On July 1-8 Almedalen Week took place in Gotland in Sweden. Almedalen Week is a one-week event where thousands of politicians (including all ministers and major decision-makers) and representatives from companies and organisations meet during eight hectic days to discuss politics and societal issues at large. Almedalen Week started in 1968 when Olof Palme (Social Democratic Party) spoke from the back of a lorry at Kruttornet by Almedalen in Visby on Gotland. Little did he know that 44 years later, this event would include an impressive 1800 seminars and workshops in eight days.

CSR Sweden has hosted seminars during Almedalen Week for many years. This year three seminars were organised. In the first seminar young peoples' poor knowledge in private economics was discussed. Whose responsibility is it – the state's or the companies'? In the next seminar, Swedish Minister of Financial Markets, Peter Norman, participated and described to the audience (about 130 persons in a room with 66 chairs) how the Swedish Government is now stepping up its demands on the 58 state owned companies. About five years ago, Sweden was the first country to make GRI reporting mandatory for the state owned companies. Now, they will be required to integrate CSR and sustainability in their business model. By 2014 the Swedish Government demands to see clear results. This action is appreciated by most people in the Swedish CSR society and the following debate (where high level decision-makers from Pfizer, SPP (Storebrand), Svenska Spel and Lörbergs Lila participated) dealt with ownership and how the owner structure of a company can affect its work on sustainability and CSR.

CSR Sweden's next seminar was co-arranged with NyföretagarCentrum Sverige (The Swedish Jobs and Society Foundation), since 27 years the leader in creating new companies in Sweden. Because of its knowhow and skills in entrepreneurship, NyföretagarCentrum Sverige is actually also one of the founders of CSR Europe in 1995. And in this seminar, the special guest was Jan Noterdaeme from CSR Europe. He spoke of CSR from a European perspective and emphasized the importance of stimulating enprepreneurship and the creation of new sustainable companies.

CSR Sweden is pleased to confirm that CSR and sustainability are topics that attracted great interest at the Almedalen Week. By being able to offer the Finance Market Minister in one seminar and a top representative from CSR Europe in another one, CSR Sweden marked its status as one of the major platforms for discussion about these issues in Sweden.

(Source: CSR Sweden)

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11 July 2012