CSR in times of climate change

The future we talked about and often ignored is now here, in its very real, aggravated form: climate change, changing the course of the land. Climate change and its adverse impacts are no longer left to imagination but today’s stark reality. Like the rest of the world, Pakistan is also experiencing serious climate change, including recurring floods, changing weather patterns, intensifying heatwaves, and frequent landslides in glacial regions. Recent floods have done devastating damage to both urban and rural parts of the country.

NDMA (national disaster management authority) and other government agencies are trying to the best of their capacity to manage post-disaster management, which surely isn’t enough. It is imperative for the government to facilitate the disaster management authorities in upskilling to respond to disasters and to put in place mechanisms to learn to be proactive and limit the risk of disasters. Though the government’s role is often discussed and criticized, it is equally important that other entities also step up to help the nation when in need. Such initiatives are not a far-fetched dream, but a reality in the form of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Corporate Social Responsibility hinges on the principle that businesses have a prevailing need to look beyond their operations and focus on building marginalized communities and societies without any legal bindings, making it a voluntary action. The current form of CSR has been developed through many evolutionary stages, which began from merely highlighting the business to stretch to a level where CSR became a strategic factor for managing sustainability and stakeholders. Globally, the major focus areas in CSR are economic, social, and environmental, where economic focuses on the well-being of stakeholders, social focuses on the well-being of employees and society in general, and environmental focuses on the well-being of the environment by businesses. These CSR practices have enabled companies to achieve their objectives through better relationships with stakeholders and society.

Similarly, many companies and businesses in Pakistan have also taken the route of CSR to do their part in social sustainability. The CSR activities in Pakistan have been improved after benchmarking the activities of multinational firms operating in Pakistan. Although formal data isn’t available, despite rulings by the Supreme Court of Pakistan requiring companies to issue their annual CSR reports (Ashraf, 2024), many companies have often reported spending nearly a billion on CSR activities annually. The Overseas Chamber of Commerce and Industry has shared in its annual report that the CSR spending is nearing 8 billion PKR. The main sector the organizations work in Pakistan is the social sector, where they try to improve the livelihoods of marginalized communities by sponsoring orphanages, helping people with special needs, building and sponsoring hospitals, etc. Whereas some of the companies, mainly oil and tobacco companies, are working in the environmental sector, where their main activities include carbon reduction and planting of trees to save the environment from hazardous smoke.

While focusing on the environment, it is imperative to notice that climate change is a global environmental issue that has even made the 43 CEOs in the World Economic Forum sign an open letter to focus on their climate actions. An excerpt from the open letter states that “climate change is real and addressable, therefore they will focus on coming up with strategies and activities to help save the climate and mitigate risk associated with it”. This has also led to the idea of calling CSR as Corporate Social Responsiveness, which also includes on the capacity and willingness of the organization to combat the climate-related issues and society at large. With climate change come climate-related disasters, which often adversely impact developing countries. Pakistan is one such country that is prone to climate-related disasters due to its geographical location, as it is surrounded by the Himalayas and Hindukush, crossing rivers and the sea, and examples include recent frequent flooding and glacial melting, etc. Such climate disruptions impact the businesses as well; therefore, the focus of Pakistani organizations and their CSR activities should also move towards building climate resilience.

The CSR activities of Pakistan related to climate-induced disasters are confined to post-disaster relief activities for the society. Pakistan State Oil has been particularly involved in flood relief activities since 2013. Shifting the narrative about people and the focus of CSR activities to build climate resilience is beneficial not only for the country but also for businesses, as they can operate seamlessly without interruptions in energy, supply chains, or production. Considering climate resilience as a CSR initiative will also make organizations work for sustainable practices in their everyday business operation, too, including the focus on circular economy, green production, reduction of carbon and hazardous emissions, etc. as corporations are expected now to become climate leaders. Corporations can be a good catalyst in establishing climate-resilient and aware communities through their CSR activities.

The onus cannot rest solely on corporations; collective action is required, with the government and organizations working together to combat the evils of climate change through a climate-resilient ecosystem. The governments can help the local and multinational companies to come together to build a climate-resilient CSR agenda benchmarked by the developed countries but deeply rooted in the realities of Pakistan. Through collaborations, the resources can be used efficiently, and organizations can pick up areas they want to work on based on their expertise rather trying to do everything to spend millions, which won’t be beneficial for long-term. For instance, some of the corporations are already working on strengthening the infrastructural resilience along with other activities, some are working on renewable energy sources, some on community awareness and training programmes.

If the agenda is set and the objectives are clear, the corporations can work in the specified fields to create long-term benefits and a resilient structure rather than post-disaster ad hoc activities. This way, the resources will not be wasted and CSR will be more than just a philanthropic social duty, it will then be an investment towards sustainability which is beneficial for both the business and for the people.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025