How will corporate CSR thrive?

Headlines have been challenging in 2025. Companies are under attack publicly and privately for policies viewed as “too progressive” or “woke.” The reality, however, is that most companies have strongly reaffirmed their sustainability commitments but less so their DEI commitments.  

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) works in the grey area between the two.

Many affirming companies have opted for “greenhushing,” staying quiet about their strategies and leadership. There are pros and cons to that, but why are companies staying true to their goals and strategies? A simple but powerful answer: long-term value creation. Those staying the course have built strategies that incorporate and harvest business value from their commitments.

Innovation in integrating CSR and sustainability has not been strong over the last 10 years. That is a missed value creation opportunity. Sustainability and CSR trends have not gone away for the long haul; they have just gone quiet. Competition across companies and sectors will continue to seek support from customers, shareholders, and stakeholders whether companies are communicating it or not.

TRADITIONAL CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY

There are two primary models today: traditional corporate philanthropy and strategic corporate social responsibility. Both are important to maintain, but given the climate companies are working in today—with both shareholder pressure and government discontinuity in the policy environment—a value-creation model built on innovative win-win solutions could accelerate social progress aligned with business success.

A great example of traditional corporate philanthropy is ExxonMobil. In public health, ExxonMobil made a long-term commitment to help eradicate malaria, making an impact through their collaborations and large philanthropic investments (exceeding $170 million over 25 years).

This philanthropic, public health focus has largely been outward in its emphasis. While there are mentions of it starting from a concern that its African workforce had significant absences due to malaria, the efforts are not central to the oil and gas products company’s overall business strategy. We applaud their long-term commitment and hope it continues for the benefit of millions of people.

STRATEGIC CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

A timely example of strategic corporate social responsibility is Takeda Pharmaceuticals, a global R&D-driven biopharmaceutical company, headquartered in Japan. It has taken a different approach, innovating its commitments and implementation to drive company business success. Takeda has not approached CSR and sustainability as a “program,” but rather as a core strategy integrated strongly into all parts of the company: businesses, functions, and geographies.

Takeda has a 240+-year company history, which is remarkable. Deeply embedded values at the heart of their longevity is “PTRB,” which stands for “patient, trust, reputation, and business.” In that order, if they meet patients’ needs, they gain trust and reputation. Then the business will follow. This principled, values-based approach goes back to Takeda’s founder and is kept alive today, integrated in ongoing corporate and business strategy, including CSR.

The key difference between a philanthropic contribution and the strategic CSR approach is how Takeda brought PTRB to life in its CSR and sustainability strategy: innovating the intersection between climate and health. For example, Takeda developed vaccines to prevent Dengue fever, a mosquito-borne health risk and unmet medical need that is becoming more challenging with climate change. They focus on public health challenges stemming from climate change as a core part of their CSR strategy.

Takeda innovated the “how” of its CSR implementation through a unique grant-making program. The public RFP is developed annually to create win-win opportunities that align with Takeda’s corporate purpose, focusing on transforming health outcomes by investing in climate–resilient health systems worldwide. Potential grantees make applications, which are first reviewed internally by Takeda employees.

They look for proposals that are innovative, sustainable, and impactful for the grantee, the identified public health population, and Takeda. This is collaboration, not just check-writing. Then ALL Takeda employees can vote on which proposals to fund, typically for multiyear grants which extend the grantees’ impact across four to 10 years. This voting step has been critical in creating strong awareness within the company about Takeda’s sustainability and CSR focus, driving alignment and creating opportunities for each employee to align their personal purpose with where they want to make an impact. That is very rare.

Awareness and employee alignment are critical to long-term company success. This is one area where Takeda has demonstrated innovation to drive results for the company and society. Takeda is not apologetic that their programs will create long-term business value. In fact, its leadership, from the board and executive team down to individual employees, makes this highly integrated approach work.

This strategic CSR model is drawing attention. Side events at the 2025 United Nations General Assembly have been oversubscribed, garnering event replays and the attention of millions on social media. And recently Takeda received a distinguished award from the United Nations Association of Greater Boston (UNAGB). “Takeda’s commitment to global health, advocacy for inclusive and sustainable innovation, and leadership in shaping the future of biopharmaceuticals make the organization a deeply deserving recipient of our Global Citizenship Award,” wrote Caitlin Moore, UNAGB’s executive director.

VALUE CREATION IN A CSR STRATEGY

It is truly amazing what can be achieved when the focus is large scale and long term (ExxonMobil), but also when it is innovative with full strategic integration into business and corporate value creation strategies (Takeda). In these times, we believe that the strategic approach should be replicated and practiced to benefit companies, society, and the planet. A company’s value-creating CSR strategy will likely have the best chance to last and deliver value to shareholders and stakeholders.

Barie Carmichael is senior counselor, Member International Advisory Council, at APCO Worldwide. Neil Hawkins is research advisor/graduate faculty at Harvard University Sustainability Masters Program.

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