Spain: incentives for social and enviromental-friendly enterprises

In order to make consumers and enterprises more aware of the societal impact of the decisions they made, the Spanish Government is drawing up a provision aimed at incentiving the business commitment with the environment. This text will require that enterprises being awarded public support comply with a number of social rules and will establish economic incentives for those that are able to prove acting in a socially responsible way. After having collected the views of the Parliament and of an experts? forum, the Spanish Government is currently negotiating this new provision with trade unions and employers? organisations.

This provision is expected to be ready by the middle of this year and to enhance corporate social responsibility in Spain, a concept that has not made enough progress yet in this country. It is true that some enterprises are starting to show a good performance in relation to the environment, but their impact is still very reduced, partly because of consumers not being very demanding in this area.

Those responsible for the launch of this provision, in which up to seven Spanish Ministers are involved, do not intend to oblige all the enterprises to be socially responsible alike, but will be particularly demanding in respect of those being awarded any type of public support. Small and medium-sized companies will be paid a particular attention. It is not still clear, however, how enterprises will be incentived to act in a socially responsible way.