I'm speaking at the Oxford Union tonight in a debate entitled, provocatively, corporate social responsibility will not survive the economic downturn.
I'm speaking for the motion that many companies will water down their current commitments as they seek to reduce costs at a time of falling revenues. It's something I fear is inevitable.
There is of course danger surrounding the negative PR that may result, though in many cases this can be easily dealt with.
With soaring energy prices, green commitments can be maintained for cost reasons rather than CSR reasons. But other parts of the CSR piece are much less likely to survive.
It's been easy to forget in recent months that there is much more to CSR than environmental sustainability. To be a member of the FTSE4GOOD Index, for instance, eligible companies must do more than simply work towards a green goal.
They should develop positive relationships with stakeholders, uphold and support universal human rights, ensure good supply chain labour standards and counter bribery.
Yet there are already signs those other criteria are suffering.
More than one in three of the international business leaders surveyed last month by Ernst & Young reported a worsening of corrupt business practices.
At home, Boots is one of 14 (largely retail) companies to have come under fire for imposing a 'settlement fee' on smaller suppliers. And earlier this month Channel 4 pulled from its schedules a documentary about the ongoing sourcing of low-cost high street fashion.
Tonight's ICAEW-sponsored debate should be interesting – other speakers include Mallen Baker, development director of Business in the Community, Dr Robert Barrington, director of governance and socially responsible investment with F&C Investments, Dr Kevin Money of Henley Management College, Owen Espley of Friends of the Earth and Miriam Kennet, co-founder of the Green Economics Institute.
But it will not be victory on the night that matters.
If companies are serious about CSR it's essential it's not treated like a menu, with different options to be picked and refused at different times, depending on your mood.
Damian Wild is Editor-in-Chief of BusinessGreen.com's sister title Accountancy Age
This article first appeared at the Accountancy Age's Accountancy Matters Blog
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