The report is a look into Canadian boardrooms to determine the role boards play, or ought to play, in a company’s social and environmental performance. Institutional investors, concerned about the long-term performance of businesses, are the key players driving these issues into the boardroom.

Author of the report and CSR expert, Coro Strandberg, was reported to have said, “Firms are coming to understand the importance of corporate social responsibility and sustainability to competitive performance, but their focus on CSR at the operational level has kept these issues out of boardroom strategy. Increasingly, boards are starting to understand that environmental, social and ethical issues can be of material significance. Therefore, they are starting to exercise their fiduciary responsibility in this area."

Vice-president of Governance and Human Resource Management, Prem Benimadhu, was quoted as saying, “Corporate governance is on the radar of corporations, regulators and stakeholders as never before. There is now a trend toward greater consideration of CSR by boards. This trend is driven by the growing CSR business case and by institutional shareholders with long-term investment horizons. The result is the mainstreaming of CSR as a governance concern.”

The twelve-step road map is designed in two stages:

• Stage 1 is for boards just beginning to plot their governance framework.
• Stage 2 includes six steps for organizations intending to deepen board CSR practice.