The Dialogue for a Convention on Corporate Social Responsibility and Accountability is a multi-stakeholder led discussion on the contributions of the private sector to sustainable development in the context of Rio+20. A Convention at Rio+20 would establish a global regulatory framework for mandatory corporate sustainability reporting adopting a ‘report or explain’ approach.

The Dialogue has amassed considerable support from a wide range of companies, including the International Advisory Board with members from Aviva Investors, UNEP FI, HSBC Plc, and the Global Reporting Initiative among many others. Further to this, one of the Dialogue’s Partner Coalitions, The Convention on Corporate Sustainability Reporting convened by Aviva, represents investors with assets under management of approximately US$2 trillion.

Voluntary initiatives have reached their limit, and a policy framework is essential if we are to level the playing field in terms of reporting, and remove the competitive advantages currently associated with poor environmental and social practice. The Dialogue aims to gather input and interpretations from those involved in the field, to inform ideas on how the best possible framework should operate.

The Forum currently contains three discussion topics (below), which are based on discussion papers prepared in conjunction with the dialogue, and present proposals for how we should structure the policy framework. Please click on the topics, register with the forum and engage in the debate.