Business responsibility is not limited to providing honest and fair actions towards products, customers, and employees. It is also responsible for making a good impact on the lives of the community and the environment.

In this blog let us examine the CSR program of this electronic manufacturer (Bosch), and how the company helps the community while conserving natural resources. According to the Bosch website, In the year 2020, they already donated 21.2 million euros worldwide to different charitable institutions. Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH and other Bosch branches across the world built their foundation along with other companies. The foundation focus on areas of health, education, and global issues. For example, Bosch India provides medical support to the poorest regions of the country, while Bosch Brazil institutions aim to fight poverty and drug abuse, as well as provide educational assistance.

So, knowing what their CSR program is and its purpose. Let us now look at the negative impact of their product on the people and environment, and how they prevent greenwashing for their company. Bosch products mostly use lithium-ion batteries, and according to what I’ve read on the website of E-vehicle info, parts of lithium-ion batteries use rare metals like nickel and cobalt, that’s why it can deplete natural resources, could cause toxicity to the ecosystem and global warming. And it has a bad effect on health, especially on the production and processing phase. To address this problem, Bosch carefully scans their supplier based on the CSR assessment, such as how they handle their employees, suppliers are required to be determinedly involved in preserving natural resources including their supply chains. For transparency purposes, Bosch worked with other sub-suppliers in auditing and CSR assessment for the rare earth elements. They also join yearly reporting of Conflict Minerals, by the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI).

In my opinion, there is no greenwashing when it comes to the production and processing phase of their product. But I hope they also extend their effort to inform the community, most importantly the recycler on how to properly dispose or recycle the batteries, to avoid explosions and damage to landfills.

References:

Bosch Global. (n.d.). Responsible corporate governance. Medium. https://www.bosch.com/sustainability/responsibility/


Dipesh Thakur. (2022, January 27). Social and Environmental Impact of Lithium-ion Batteries?. E-Vehicleinfo. https://e-vehicleinfo.com/social-and-environmental