Highlights

One of the major objectives of the Sino-German CSR Project is to strengthen key government institutions in their efforts to improve framework conditions for CSR in China. The Project aims at enabling Chinese government organisations to integrate CSR into their policies, strategies and practices in order to create a favourable environment for businesses to operate in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. This objective is achieved by providing policy recommendations to central government departments as well as provincial and local governments.

The Project has conducted substantial research on a variety of CSR-related topics. Research includes:

• "CSR in China and Its Relevance for International Trade", which served as the basis for policy recommendations to the China's Ministry of Commerce (MofCom). Some of these recommendations were considered by MofCom and CSR-related criteria were incorporated into the process of issuing export licenses
• A study on "Responsible Competitiveness in Zhejiang", which provided recommendations on incentive mechanisms (e.g. tax reliefs, awards, labelling schemes) and was submitted to the Zhejiang Economic and Information Commission and to the municipal government of Wenzhou
• A Comparative investigation on local government CSR policies and initiatives in China.

International and national exchange and dialogue are also essential for raising awareness on policy interventions, needs and initiative. Examples of how the CSR Project facilitates this process include:

• An international conference on "Sustainable supply chains in China-challenges and opportunities for German and Chinese companies" in July 2010 at the EXPO in Shanghai
• The "First Workshop on Local Government Promotion on CSR" in September 2009 in the city of Yantai.