The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Airport Industry - The evolution of integrated reporting in the case of Atlantia S.p.A.

Abstract

This paper will report the significance Corporate Social Responsibility has with respect to the industry and the environmentIt will also outline the fact that CSR is not just the mere respect for the rules, but it is also a voluntary behavior aimed at improving the general welfare of the business and its surroundings. In the first paragraph I will describe what CSR is, the ethical conduct of the company as so as to be defined as both responsible and sustainable. Then I will retrace the origins of CSR. I will proceed with a paragraph explaining the fact that the company must pursue its economic goal without forgetting the sustainability objective. Sustainability affects investors since the less sustainable the company is perceived, the more riskier it is considered.CSR has a relation with the environment: as written in the first chapter, sustainable development is crucial for the modern firm. Then I will outline the purpose of having a strategy in place, being the fact that without a strategy it is not possible to see whether the company is compliant with the actual and upcoming directive. The last section of the second chapter will explain what the social report is and why it is important to include the social disclosure in the integrated annual report. The third chapter will be about the disclosure relating to the liability of big enterprises to report information regarding their social and environmental matters, namely the actual Non-Financial Reporting Directive. Investigated this, I will study the proposal of the directive of the European Union, first with a description of the content of the proposal, centering the attention on the future obligations for both big and small enterprises to disclose corporate social responsibility concerns within the following five years. Then I will outline the Fundamental Principle and contents of the Proposed Directive, focusing on the principle of proportionality, meaning the fact that big enterprises are required to disclose more sustainability issues with respect to small enterprises, and the fact that a mandatory assurance will be required over the sustainability and social disclosures: Last section if this chapter will be about the Broad Scope of the Directive and the fact that sustainability reporting will be mandatory also for small enterprises within few years; in this section I will describe in detail the Article 19a, regarding sustainability reporting. The fourth chapter will be centered in the airport sector, first with a brief introduction, concentrating then over the fact that there is the need for regulations. Secondly, a more detailed description of regulations aimed at waste management and reduction, employees’ treatment and the contribution these regulations give to the community will be shaped. After a general depiction of the directives ruling the industry, I will focus the attention on the sustainability matters regarding the airport since nowadays there is a strong correlation between air transportation and pollution, even if it is not the most polluting activity in the world. The last chapter will be about the practical cases. For the three companies under examination I will outline their reporting activity and their compliance with the provisions for a good reporting activity compliant with the directives.