The prospective view: trends and challenges for the future of social responsibility
The social responsibility of companies and organizations towards their stakeholders and towards the planet has been evolving and changing, as has geopolitics and the global economy based on the globalization of markets and capital. This article takes a prospective approach and presents the main challenges that companies and society currently face and the trends that companies and international think tanks are developing to face these challenges. Similarly, the European Union, with its taxonomy, requires companies a greater comply with the premises of the Green Deal. Civil society is also a key element when it comes to demanding more committed companies that can generate sustainable responses to global and local challenges. This involves having an education system that produces more aware and empowered citizens, capable of demanding companies to align their activities with sustainable development.
ODS
Daniela Toro CarnevaliPhD in Business Administration Sciences from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and sociologist, with a master degree in Management of Non-Profit Entities. She has more than twenty years of experience, both as a worker and as a strategic consultant, in companies and non-profit organizations in Spain and Latin America in the areas of corporate social responsibility, sustainability, social action and corporate volunteerism. She is a professor at several universities and business schools of social responsibility, culture of sustainability, sociology applied to the business world, gender and global justice; conscious and responsible leadership, and coaching and emotional intelligence. She has been an adjunct professor in the Department of Society, Policy and Sustainability at ESADE Business School since 2012, and an adjunct professor of the Sustainability, Social Responsibility master’s since 2017. In addition, she has specialized as a life coach for neurodivergent students and adults and combines this activity with teaching and consulting for companies that want to incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion criteria into their people care policies. She has published textbooks and academic articles, among the most recent are Sostenibilidad y Responsabilidad Social: inicios, evolución y tendencias, and El mundo que queremos crear: organizaciones sostenibles, éticas y responsables (UOC, 2022).
Manuel Fernández LópezMaster degree in Sustainable Development (Dublin Institute of Technology), postgraduate diploma in Directorate of Environmental Impact Studies (UCD), and international PhD (University of Barcelona, Social Psychology). In the context of sustainable development, he has been a professor in Ecological Economy and Environmental Management master in Norway (Nord University), and in Educational Innovation (Polytechnical University of Catalonia, UPC) and Responsible Communication (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, UOC) in Spain, among other courses. He has worked in environmental and prospective consulting internationally and in the academic field, with more than eleven years as a resident in several countries in Europe and collaborates with the United Nations in the context of resilience for climate change. Countries in which he has developed or participated in projects include Ireland and the United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, Mexico, Cuba and the Seychelles. He is currently an adjunct professor at Dublin City University (DCU), where he researches on future studies and sustainable development in education.
