Hosted by the company’s president Sérgio
Gabrielli (left), President Lula visits an oil
platform built by Petrobras, one of the
symbols of Brazil’s advanced CSR model.
Patricia SantoS/aP
BRAzIlIAn compAnIES pRAcTIcE
social responsibility with a degree of sophistication unparalleled in latin America. They
lead rankings of corporate sustainability in
the sub-hemisphere due to a unique creativity that—in
the best cases—makes profits and ethics work together. However, the corporate world in Brazil also reflects
the huge social and economic disparities of the country. Highly developed companies, following international standards of social responsibility coexist with
others that still engage in child labor, environmental
degradation and even slavery. While the best firms
serve as models for the neighboring countries, there
is still much to do within Brazil itself.
“In Brazil, social responsibility has evolved in
waves, and such evolution is happening at a faster
pace,” says Ricardo Young, president of the Ethos Institute for Business and Social Responsibility, a not-for-profit group that has worked with business members
to help raise the ethical standards of Brazilian corporations for almost a decade. According to Young, many
businessmen already have a very advanced vision. They
know, for example, that even if they reduce water consumption per unit produced, the impact will increase
if sales increase. “Some companies have gone so far as
to discuss limiting production,” he says. “If cadmium
reserves are finite, it becomes clear that we cannot
keep producing cell phones at the current rate.”
