Today there is a lot of talk about companies and their social, environmental responsibility. When a company does not have a social-environmental commitment, many people ask, is this a criminal act?
The lack of a social-environmental responsibility is when a corporation, company, or brand cares about society and the environment. Companies, corporations, and brands that do not have this policy in place and later have social or environmental issues could also be criminally responsible for their actions or lack of activities.
What Is Corporate Social Environmental Responsibility Policy?
A corporate social-environmental responsibility policy is when a corporation, company, or brand will ensure that the products they are producing do not harm society in any way and they have environmental policies in place. In other words, a corporation or a company is not just concerned about profits but also about society and the environment.
Recent research has shown that many consumers want to buy from companies, corporations, and brands that care about society and the environment. Many feel that companies should be more transparent to show the consumers what they are doing to help humanity and the environment.
Here are the thing that people want to see a company has as their social, environmental responsibility:
- A company actively working to reduce their carbon footprint.
- A company improving its social and environmental policies, including those throughout the entire global supply chain.
- A company participating in fair trade and ethical sourcing practices.
- A company that beleives in diversity, equity, and inclusion for all members of society.
- A company that has charitable global giving policies in place.
- A company that believes in and encourages community service and volunteering.
- A company that has policies in place to protect and improve the environment.
- A company that does not just care about profits but also makes conscious social and environmental investments.
Overwhelmingly, generation X and millennials feel that our global society and protecting the environment are two important factors that all companies, corporations, and brands should consider.

Listen To Our Podcast Is Lack of Social Environmental Responsibility Criminal? below or by clicking here.
Social Environmental Responsibility And Criminal Acts
The question that many companies and individuals have been asking themself is, when a company lacks social responsibility, is that criminal? When does it become criminal for a company, corporation, or brand not to have a social-environmental policy?
In other words, is a company, corporation, or brand responsible for society and the environment? Does a lack of corporate social, environmental responsibility a criminal act, or a moral matter?
Should companies, corporations, and brands police themselves to ensure that they have social-environmental responsibilities in place, or should it become a government issue?
These are questions that many people are asking. Research clearly shows that consumers want to know that the companies, brands, and corporations they support care about the environment and others.
Below are ways that a company’s lack of Social Environmental Responsibility is morally wrong and criminal.
This is not a complete list, but just ways, not having a corporate social and environmental responsibility in place can border a criminal act.
- A company does not care about the environment but knowingly dumps waste in waters and riverways around the world. This kind of criminal act destroys the wildlife and usually damages the surrounding soils and areas. In turn, it drives those near the waste sites into poverty and can cause harm to their health.
- A company that participates in or uses wood from illegal or indiscriminate logging. One of the significant causes of deforestation worldwide is illegal or indiscriminate logging. A side effect of indiscriminate or illegal logging is land erosion which can cause floods to sweep through entire villages. Land eroision can also damage crops, live stock, houses and deaths.
- A company that does not seek out ways to manage electronic waste. For example, a developed country has up to 50,000,000 tons of electronic waste every year. This includes computers, TV sets, mobile phones, and appliances. And many of these are not properly managed, so they go into landfills or other waste dumps or, worse, get exported to a Third World country and placed there. A responsible company would want to know where and how their electronic waste is being managed.
- A company who does not care about enslaved persons or child labor but only cares about the product’s price. Year ago, the Cocoa industry got caught in having child laborers work on the Cocoa plantations on the worldwide cocoa they purchased. This forced the chocolate companies to have the policy to ensure that no child labor was used to produce their cocoa used in their chocolate.
- A company that does not worry about global ethical sourcing throughout their entire supply chain. Ethical sourcing is all about understanding what all the players in your global supply chain are doing to help society and the environment. A company that does not care about ethical sourcing can knowingly or unknowingly help to participate in social and environmental issues taking place in another part of the world. In other words, just because you don’t see or know about something does not make you not responsible.
- A company that does not care about social or political issues and will not take a stand on them. We have seen with the Russian invasion of Ukraine how public support for Ukraine and their right to freedom forced many major international companies, corporations and brands to take a stand.
The truth is that companies today need to be concerned with not only what is happening in their own offices but what is happening throughout their entire global supply chain. Consumers are demanding that companies share responsibility in the entire process and have transparency for their entire global supply chain.
A Lesson From The 2012 Dhaka Garment Factory Fire

We can all learn from the 2012 Dhaka Garment factory fire that broke out and killed over 115 workers. The factory opened in 2009 and employed 1630 workers; they made T-shirts and polo shirts and jackets and included products for various companies and organizations, including Walmart, Carrefour, and IKEA.
After the fire broke out and killed all the workers, Walmart was criticized for working with a factory that had such poor safety and other standards and allowed so many workers to die and be injured in the fire.
It was discovered that in 2011 the factory was flagged as a code “orange” for violations of ethical sourcing safety conditions. Walmart knew about this violation but continued to work with the factory.
Walmart took a massive public relations hit for the fire even though Walmart tried to claim they did not know about this factory as it was a subcontractor for another factory. Many saw Walmart’s response as a way to try to pass the buck to someone else.
In my own experience, if the factory were shipping containers direct to Walmart, then there would have been Walmart assigned inspectors in the factory checking all the productions before they shipped out to Walmart and those inspectors would have been very familiar with the factory.
The lesson every company can learn from this tragic Dhaka fire is to understand their entire global supply chain as issues can come back to hurt you in the future. Companies also need to pick and choose a responsible partner to work with, especially when dealing with the global supply chain.
If you are interested in seeing how Mondoro can help you ethically source and manufacture home decor and home furnishing products – we would love to talk to you to see how we can help you.
Find out more about how Mondoro can help you create, develop, and manufacture excellent home decor and home furniture products – don’t hesitate to contact me, Anita. Check out my email by clicking here or become a part of our community and join our newsletter by clicking here.
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Social Environmental Responsibility Fights Social Challenges
What is apparent to me and many others is that how an individual, company, or brand looks at their social, environmental responsibility matters in today’s world. Companies today need to balance their needs for profits with the ecosystem, poverty, environment, and climate change.
You can discover more by reading Social Environmental Responsibility Fights Social Challenges by clicking here.
How Social Environmental Responsibility Helps Fight Poverty
Social Environmental responsibility is about a company having social responsibility while also being concerned about their environmental impact. A Social Environmental Responsible company will look at profits and benefit society while being responsible towards the environment.
To find out more about How Social Environmental Responsibility Helps Fight Poverty by clicking here.