SOCIETY & ”INDUSTRY 4.0”

Sustainable development through corporate social responsibility policy in Bulgaria’s biosector

  • 1 Business Faculty – University of Food Technology -Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Abstract

The bioeconomy, as a complementary segment of the circular economy, encompasses all sectors and systems that rely on biological and environmental resources, their functions and principles. It can lead to the discovery of new opportunities to provide food, goods and energy without depleting the planet’s limited biological resources. It can turn algae into fuel, recycle plastics, produce furniture or clothing from waste, and create organic fertilizers from industrial waste products. It has the potential to create over a million new “green jobs” by 2030. Bio-sector enterprises play a key role in accelerating the achievement of the UN’s global goals. They contribute to reducing climate change and waste, creating new jobs and building sustainable development in a modern society. Corporate social responsibility is a concept that reflects the quality of the relationship between an organization and society. According to the European Commission’s Green Paper, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is “a concept that serves companies as a basis for voluntarily integrating social and environmental aspects into their business strategies and relationships with all stakeholders.”
The purpose of this report is to examine how the principles of corporate social responsibility affect biosector enterprises in Bulgaria and the adequacy of the country’s policy to engage them to adopt global goals for sustainable development. The results of the study show that CSR is not seen as a one-time act, but as a sustainable process, helping to balance the three pillars of sustainable development – economic growth, social development and environmental protection.

Keywords

References

  1. World Commission on Environment and Development,Our Common Future, p.8 Oxford University Press, 1987 и
  2. EU timber regulation – preparing for the regulation http://www.proforest.net/en/files/eu-timber-regulation-briefing-note-SolidStandards – Quality and sustainability standards for solid biofuels http://www.solidstandards.eu (EN standards), 2019
  3. ORDINANCE on the methodologies for determining the national indicative targets, Art. 10, para. 1 of the Energy Efficiency Act, Adopted by Decree of the Council of Ministers No 79 of 2011.
  4. National Strategy in the Field of Energy (with Focus on Electric Power Engineering) BAS, Sofia, 2017.
  5. Пенчев, П., Р.Пенчева, Устойчивото развитие – теоретични и практически измерения, Годишник на СА“Д.А.Ценов, Свищов, том СХХ, 2017, с.69-120
  6. LAW on Energy Efficiency Prom., SG, nos. 38 from 8.05.2018, in force as of 8.05.2018
  7. Mihova, T., Anguelov, K., (2018), Research on interactions among universities and high-technological enterprises аt qualification of employees, IX National conference with international participation ELECTRONICA, Sofia
  8. OECD (2016) The Bioeconomy to 2030: Designing a Policy Agenda. OECD Publishing. Paris.
  9. Denmark as growth hub for a sustainable bioeconomy. Statement by the National Bioeconomy Panel. September 2014.
  10. Петранка, Ф., А. Вълканова, П. Бучков, Политика за развитие: От помощ за развитие към глобално партньорство за развитие, БПМР, София 2018, стр.22
  11. Василева, Е., Бизнес среда и устойчиво развитие на регионите, Издателски комплекс УНСС, С.2019, с.19
  12. Öko-Institut, Study on Technical Assistance in the Realization of the 2017; Report on Renewable Energy
  13. Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) Animal by-products. https://www.bmel.de/DE/Tier/ (accessed July 25, 2018).
  14. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Home Page. http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/ (accessed July 25, 2018).
  15. Hallström, E.; Carlsson-Kanyama, A.; Börjesson, P. Environmental Impact of Dietary Change: A Systematic Review. J. Cleaner Prod. 2015,91,1−11.
  16. Hanushek,E., L. Woessman (2016), The Role of Education Quality for Economic Growth, World Bank Policy Research, Working paper, 4122
  17. Harald von, Witzke; Noleppa, S.; Zhirkova, I. Meat Eats Land; WWF Germany, 2011.
  18. Haupt, M., Zschokke, M. 2017: How can LCA support the circular economy? – 63rd discussion forum on life cycle assessment, Zurich, Switzerland, November 30, 2016. In: Int J Life Cycle Assess (2017) 22:832 – 837.

Article full text

Download PDF