Abstract
Sustainability management is a relatively recent concept in Belgium, compared to other European countries like Germany or the UK. Prior studies focusing on sustainability management in Belgian companies show that, while considerable improvements have been made over the last decade, sustainability management in Belgium varies greatly (Louche et al., Belgium. In: Idowu SO, Leal Filho W (eds) Global practices of corporate social responsibility. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, pp 125–147, 2009; Business & Society Belgium, Le baromètre CSR. Business and society Belgium magazine, Business & Society Belgium, Brussels, 2011).
This chapter compares the practices of Belgian companies with the average of the International Corporate Sustainability Barometer. The analysis confirms that sustainability management is a living and evolving concept in Belgium, but it also shows that Belgian practices are commonly below the international average and sometimes uneven. For example, the perceived influence of stakeholders as well as the awareness and application of sustainability management tools are below the international average in Belgium.
However, even if the integration into core business varies greatly, a particularly high percentage of Belgian companies connect sustainability to most segments of their core business. This observation shows that Belgian companies are particularly interested in finding opportunities to link sustainability with their core business.
This chapter presents and discusses the major differences between Belgium and the international average as well as different possible explanations.