Corporate Social Responsibility in Light of Laudato Si

Abstract

This paper explores what Laudato Si teaches about corporate social responsibility. First, I highlight three key and interrelated themes in Laudato Si, namely that all of creation is a gift from a loving God, that “everything in the world is connected”, and a call for a change in our personal response to God’s gifts. Second, I relate these three themes to corporate social responsibility, considering the social purpose and nature of the corporation, the importance of cooperative relationships in solidarity for value creation in corporations, and our responsibility to others as a response to the gifts that we have received by practising subsidiarity. Third, I briefly discuss the practical implications using impact investing as an illustration. the other phases in the cycle implications. Thus every economic (CiV, 37). [E]conomic life must be understood as a multi-layered phenomenon: in every one of these layers, to varying degrees and in ways specifically suited to each, the aspect of fraternal reciprocity must be present. In the global era, economic activity cannot rescind from gratuitousness, which fosters and disseminates solidarity and responsibility for justice and the common good among the different economic players. It is clearly a specific and profound form of economic democracy. Solidarity is first and foremost a sense of responsibility on the part of everyone with regard to everyone, and it cannot therefore be merely delegated to the State (CiV, 38).