Corporate Social Responsibility in the Netherlands

The history of CSR in the Netherlands can be characterized by a regularly changing focus and leadership oscillating between government and business. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the first focus of attention in what we now call sustainability was social issues. The government took the first step with a law to improve the social well-being of the population, but the major follow-up steps were taken by a few leaders within the business community. It was then the government in the 1980s that asked companies to give attention to the environmental effects of their actions. However, the role of the government in that area became increasingly passive over time, and the business community took the lead. Recently, the Dutch government has again grabbed the steering wheel by establishing very ambitious goals in the field of energy and with regard to a circular economy. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly clear that there can no longer be any question of leaders and followers: the government and the business community are now working intensively together to achieve the intended goals. This is not only within the Netherlands but increasingly across national borders. In this contribution, we describe these developments regarding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Netherlands, and highlight what is special about the CSR activities in the Netherlands by outlining some individual cases, and explain the background to these activities.