The winners of the inaugural European Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award Scheme today celebrated their achievements at a special ceremony in Brussels.

This is the first ever European CSR Award Scheme, initiated and funded by the European Commission, led by CSR Europe, Business in the Community and supported by Alliance Boots, and implemented by National Award Partners together with national stakeholders.  

This pan-European award scheme aims to inspire CSR excellence in partnerships between enterprises and stakeholders, with particular emphasis on collaborative programmes that tackle sustainability through innovation. Successful projects represent a variety of business sectors, ranging from banking to pharmaceuticals.

At the event, European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said: "The remarkable work of the winning partnerships highlights the best in corporate social responsibility practices in Europe today. It shows that a strategic approach to CSR is increasingly important to the competitiveness of SMEs and large companies. It also encourages more social and environmental responsibility from the corporate sector at a time when the crisis has damaged consumer confidence and the levels of trust in business."

Addressing the award winners, Celia Moore, CSR Europe Chairperson, said: ‘’the next step forward is to scale up winning partnerships or replicate them elsewhere. The winning partnerships in the ‘’Golden Book’’ (www.europeancsrawards.eu) publication celebrate CSR excellence from the awards scheme and also serve as an invaluable source of inspiration to encourage many more CSR partnerships between enterprises and their stakeholders’’.

Launched in 2012, the national awards reward winning partnerships in two different categories, small and medium-sized enterprises and large companies in partnership with at least one non-business stakeholder. The national awards are held in advance of the European CSR Award Ceremony which showcases the winners and best practice partnerships and collaboration.