Accountability in the Value Chain: From Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) to CSR Product Declaration

Reporting on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance to external stakeholders is a key element of corporate and value chain accountability. This paper identifies gaps in existing value chain reporting practices and examines options for how a CSR product declaration can be developed to address these gaps. The characteristics of six state-of-the-art accountability management, reporting, and certification approaches are identified and the pairwise correlations are assessed statistically. Findings show that the overall correlation is low; there is no low-hanging fruit for combining existing elements. Missing allocation and aggregation methods are a particular challenge, especially concerning social aspects in the value chain. Three options for a CSR product declaration based on the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) are presented. Building on the strength of the EPD (transparency, quantification, and verification), a scientific consensus building approach is recommended. Indicator development becomes a balancing act between satisfying internal management requirements and keeping connected with the scientific development.