Nineteen years after a gas leak from US chemical firm Union Carbide killed 3,800 people in Bhopal, India, business leaders, consumer groups and educational institutions have teamed up for the first-ever Asian Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Awards.

To be given out on September 19 in Bangkok, the awards are aimed at honouring corporations for products, services and projects in four categories, including protection of the environment and reduction of poverty.

Companies with the best CSR policies and those that have financed projects to support and improve education in the region's poorer countries will also be recognized, organisers said.

These projects must demonstrate the company's leadership, sincerity and commitment to incorporate ethical values, comply with legal requirements and involvement in the community in their way of doing business.

Organisers, led by the Manila-based Asian Institute of Management business school and Singapore's new Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, are urging companies headquartered in the region to submit their favourite projects.

Non-government organisations, advertising agencies, management consultants and suppliers can also nominate entries.

"Since Enron, there's a need for corporate social responsibility everywhere," said Stephen Loke, president of the Singapore CSR centre, referring to the fall of the US energy giant following revelations top executives cooked its books.

"After that, the impetus has been stronger and that's one of the reasons why shareholders, stakeholders and consumers are crying out. There's a push factor now."

Von Hernandez, an expert on toxic wastes at Greenpeace International, said honouring corporate social responsibility was laudable, but organisers should not allow the awards to be used by firms to cover-up unethical practices.

"We hope these awards will not be used to greenwash the image of dirty corporations," Hernandez told AFP, citing companies that support tree planting projects but continue to use toxic pipes that pollute the environment and endanger lives.

Michael Backman, an Australian economist and author of two books on Asian corporate culture, warned unethical corporate practices were widespread in the region.

"Corporate social responsibility in Asia probably is among some of the worst in the world. This does not mean that all companies are equally culpable but rather that the excesses of some are atrocious," Backman said.

Timber companies in at least two Southeast Asian countries are "some of the worst offenders anywhere when it comes to social irresponsibility", he said.

Backman said multinational corporations operating in Asia tended to be more socially responsible, but Hernandez disagreed, saying some multinationals practice double standards and take advantage of weak environmental laws.

Hernandez cited one European firm as an example that continues to sell food with genetically modified ingredients in Asia, while banning it in Europe.

Greenpeace said there was a need to finally draw up a legally binding global treaty on corporate accountability agreed upon during the Earth Summit in Johannesburg last year.

"In other words, we must make corporations liable for their crimes," Hernandez said.

But analysts and business executives said giving out the awards would help instill corporate ethics and improve the standing of Asian firms in the eyes of their trading partners in the United States and Europe.

"The awards are a step forward, they send a signal. They are an acknowledgement that companies have obligations that go beyond the firms and their owners," Backman said.

Andrew Pirie, president Asia-Pacific of public relations firm Weber Shandwick who is helping the CSR centre here, said many companies may initially see efforts to promote greater corporate responsibility as an added cost.

But like what happened in Europe, it would benefit them in the long run.

"Suddenly, these companies are going to realise that if they're going to be successful internationally, they have to be responding to these issues," Pirie said.

"If you are doing trade with European businesses, it is not infrequent for those businesses to ask you for assurances about your policies in certain areas."

Backman raised another issue he said was of greater concern than forcing Asian companies into being socially responsible, which he described as often a futile cause.

"The struggle is to actually get them to act within the law. Companies routinely underpay their tax obligations in most of Asia," he said, warning this weakened governments' abilities to carry out education and other essential services.

TERRA.WIRE