Abstract
The corporate sector is one of the most important contributors to the global emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. According to a representative public opinion survey 34% of Hungarian citizens believe that corporations are responsible for climate change. The business sector is motivated to take an active role in the mitigation and adaptation of climate change. As a result, the last few decades saw a marked increase in corporate measures aiming at the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as other initiatives to tackle climate-related problems which result in numerous social issues. The aim of this paper is to assess whether Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be applied as a tool in agribusiness fostering steps towards the implementation of the climate-oriented and sustainable agriculture in Hungary. The research makes an effort to explore the role and opportunities of the Hungarian agricultural sector in adapting to climate change, it also examines the extent of the mitigation and adaptation activities appearing in the CSR portfolio of the companies and what specific measures are taken to realize them. The results of the evaluation show that climate-oriented CSR activities of the companies are relatively undeveloped, but businesses are working to reduce the impact of climate change on the usage of exercising adaptation strategies. There are several actions that can help to reduce vulnerability to the consequences of climate change in the agriculture sector. The results can support not only companies but other decision-makers decisions in climate-oriented CSR activities in agribusiness.
Highlights
Global climate change has already had a noticeable impact on the environment and socioeconomic circumstances as well
Agriculture holds many opportunities to be a major force for adapting climate change
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)-oriented studies have a long history in the business and management literature; the agribusiness-related research papers and topics are underrepresented
Summary
Global climate change has already had a noticeable impact on the environment and socioeconomic circumstances as well. The 2019 UN Climate Action Summit reinforced that the world needs to work to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The Summit presented the need to increase the short-term commitments by 2020 and the mid-term commitments by 2030 Businesses showed that they are moving to take climate action. The work of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability clearly shows that without proper adaptation, the effects of climate change will have a negative impact on agriculture (IPCC 2014). Most researches have been conducted in the Western Europe and developing countries so there is a limited amount of research available in Central and Eastern Europe focusing on the regional climate-related impacts and the special local characteristics of agriculture
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