Forum for Sustainable Development of German Business - econsense
Focus on a Partner - April 2008
In this month's interview, Thomas Koenen, Managing Director of econsense, talks about the latest developments of the Laboratory on Demographic Change as well of other projects undertaken by econsense, CSR Europe's national partner organisation in Germany.
econsense is facilitating a CSR Laboratory on Demographic Change together with companies including BASF, Evonik Industries and SAP. What are objectives and expectations of this Laboratory?
Companies have joined together with econsense to form a Laboratory "Demographic Change" - a think tank to strategically tackle the challenges of demographic change in Europe. Effective dialogue with relevant stakeholders seeks to develop strategies for sustainable human resource policies in Europe, to assist companies with the paradigm shift, and to make an active contribution to strengthening competitiveness, and to the European Alliance for CSR.
The work conducted by the Laboratory focuses on dialogue workshops, which, in addition to transferring best practice, are particularly concentrated on harnessing the strengths of representatives from all relevant stakeholder groups - to systematically identify problems and future areas requiring action in each important area, and to develop concrete solutions.
A key part of the Lab is a study project conducted by the Rostock Center for the Study of Demographic Change. The study project specifically analyses the risks associated with demographic change in Europe and how these risks affect companies working within the EU-27. The final results of the study project will be available to a broad public audience in an online tool to be presented in Brussels together with the results of the different workshops on 8 May 2008.
Based in your experience with this Laboratory, how are issues such as demographic change and ageing population impacting companies' operations and how are they being currently addressed?
Many companies have already taken demographic factors into account when it comes to mid-term and long-term human resources strategies. In many cases, they started analysing their specific demographic status quo and the expected future situation.
First of all, this is all about the undisputably most important resource that companies have: the employees. Secondly, this is also about the markets companies operate in.
As the average age of the inhabitants of most western industrialized countries is increasing, companies face changing customer needs. The so-called "Silver Market" will gain in importance. But not all companies are addressing the issue of demographic change. The Lab facilitated by econsense aims at mainstreaming the issue of demographic change, analysing how it will affect European companies and practically helping companies to tackle the challenge.
Could you tell us about econsense’s new interactive climate policy map - what are its objectives and why you decided to embark on this project?
econsense has been active in the important issue climate change for the last years already. Climate change and the closely related question of increasing worldwide energy demand are two of the most important challenges that we currently face. As climate change does not stop at national borders, it is not merely a regional, national or European problem - it is a worldwide problem. Still, the public debate often is concentrated very much on the national perspective.
econsense's Climate Policy Map looks at some of the most important countries in this debate, the G8, the BRICS countries, Mexico and the EU, altogether 14 countries and regions. The online tool consists of three parts: next to a legal basis which gives an overview of the legal backgrounds in these countries and factsheets on each country the third part is the "map-creator".
The user can interactively create maps by combining multifaceted information on climate policy with data such as energy supply and socio-economic factors. The aim is to enrich the climate debate with easy to access data and visualizations on this most complex issue.
The next meeting of CSR Europe's national partner network will take place in June 2008. What are your thoughts on the significance of these meetings for members of the network?
CSR Europe's network of National Partner Organisations (NPO) is the largest CSR network in Europe. It combines the knowledge and expertise on CSR and sustainability of 25 independent business CSR networks in 23 European countries. IMS Luxembourg and CSR Turkey are the newest members to this network which meets three times a year.
The network serves as a focal point for CSR activities in Europe and works closely together with the corporate members within CSR Europe, many of which are member to one or more of the National Partner Organisations. The network works on common projects, common standpoints, joint events and the common aim of mainstreaming CSR in Europe. Altogether, the NPO network represents more than 2000 European companies and their engagement in CSR.
More information
Read more about econsense at www.econsense.de.
For more information about CSR Europe's national partner network and its activities, contact Jani López, jl@csreurope.org.
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