Project objectives

RARE has five scientific and practical objectives:

• Gaining theoretical and empirical insights into CSR by assessing the impacts of CSR activities, differentiating them from ‘rhetoric’, and identifying drivers of high CSR impact. Research will be carried out in three business sectors and related to four sustainability-relevant issue areas. Additionally, CSR will be analysed in a context of multi-level and multi-dimensional governance;
• Contributing to method development in the social sciences, by generating a framework for Impact Assessment and a model of drivers of CSR impact;
• Formulating policy recommendations for companies, national governments and the EU. Thus, the project aims at the same time to contribute to a European approach to CSR and to broaden the scientific basis for CSR related policy-making in the EU;
• Contributing to sustainable development and the competitiveness of the EU by supporting environmental policy integration, furthering a more entrepreneurial climate, sharpening governance capacities and strengthening the basis for future CSR activities in Europe;
• Contributing to the creation of a European Research Area through developing methods and conducting empirical research among scientists from all over Europe.