Timeline: BSR and CSR Milestones
2012
- BSR celebrates its 20th anniversary
2011
- BSR opens office in São Paulo
- GRI begins to develop G4 guidelines
- UN adopts Guiding Principles on Human Rights
- Earthquake and tsunami strike Japan, causing the worst nuclear emergency since Chernobyl
2010
- International Integrated Reporting Committee begins deliberations
- ISO 26000 provides guidance on social responsibility
- U.S. Congress passes Dodd-Frank Act, with mandate on conflict minerals disclosure
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission mandates corporate climate change disclosure
- Deepwater Horizon explodes, spilling an estimated 185 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico
2009
- COP15 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen ends without global agreement
2008
- Global Network Initiative formed
- China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) issues CSR guidelines
- Lehman Brothers collapse precipitates “Great Recession”
2007
- BSR opens Beijing and New York offices
- U.S. Climate Action Partnership established
- “An Inconvenient Truth” wins Academy Award
2006
- UN Principles for Responsible Investment created
- Masdar “eco-city” initiated
2005
- BSR elects Mats Lederhausen as board chair
- BSR opens first office in mainland China (Guangzhou)
- GE CEO Jeff Immelt delivers “Green is Green” speech in Washington
- Walmart CEO Lee Scott delivers “21st Century Leadership” speech with focus on sustainability
- EU Emissions Trading Scheme launches
- Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans
2004
- BSR selects Aron Cramer as CEO
2002
- BSR opens Paris office
- Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative launches
- France mandates large company reporting on social and environmental performance
2001
- BSR opens Hong Kong office
- European Commission publishes "green paper" on CSR
- Enron scandal prompts subsequent regulation (Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
2000
- UN Global Compact created
- Millennium Development Goals adopted
- Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights formed
1999
- Protestors storm WTO in “Battle for Seattle”
- Dow Jones Sustainability Index begins
1998
- The GHG Protocol formed by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development
1997
- BSR website goes live
- BP’s John Browne calls for climate change action in Stanford Graduate School of Business speech
- Global Reporting Initiative launches
- Forum EMPRESA established
- Kyoto Protocol adopted
- Toyota unveils the Prius
1996
- First independent monitoring of labor conditions by NGOs, in El Salvador
1995
- The United Nations Environmental Programme gives the Body Shop Values Report its highest ranking in review of international corporate environmental reports
- Greenpeace activists occupy Brent Spar oil rig to protest planned dumping in the North Sea
1994
- Bob Dunn selected as BSR President and CEO
- BSR moves headquarters from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco
1993
- First BSR Conference (Washington, D.C.)
1992
- BSR founded
- World Business Council for Sustainable Development created
- Rio Earth Summit
