This project supports the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) with the continuation of its activities in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility. Activities are centred around a stakeholder workshop, which will offer a forum for the discussion of current approaches as well as future steps. The interactive concepts brings together representatives from the business community as well as civil society in Berlin in September 2007. The project consortium not only provides conceptual advice to the Council but is also responsible for innovative facilitation methods at the event as well as all organisational matters.

In 2006, the German Council for Sustainable Development actively engaged in the discussions on corporate social responsibility and discussed preliminary recommendation to the federal government with stakeholders from business, politics and civil society. The agreed recommendations were officially published at the Council’s general assembly and addressed to the federal government on that occasion. The activities in 2007 are aiming to assess the recommendations against the experiences made throughout the past year an derive further steps for the years to come.

The stakeholder workshop is conceptualized as an interactive forum, which allows for the mutual exchange and inspiration of all stakeholders in a world café format. With regard to the complex issue area of corporate social responsibility, this methods allows for the effective involvement of the different groups. In preparation of the workshop, a comprehensive questionnaire was disseminated to elicit different positions and evaluations regarding the topic.

Through these activities, the German Council for Sustainable Development underlines its role as a forum for the open and fair dialogue in the German discourse on sustainable development. Particularly, with view to corporate social responsibility, the demand for an open exchange has increased among different stakeholder, especially the corporate sector, as it is becoming more and more obvious that the multi-faceted challenges can only be met in a concerted effort. Further infromation regarding the questionnaire and the workshop are available on the website of the Council.