Corporate social responsibility (CSR) was condemned in the report, Behind the mask: the real face of corporate social responsibility, as the “peddling of fine words and lofty statements” while in reality some corporate activity has had a negative impact on the communities in which it worked. The report pinpointed three case studies where companies failed to match up to their own standards, focusing on Coca Cola, British American Tobacco (BAT) and Shell.

The report said that over the past decade, companies had used the image of social responsibility to oppose regulation and convince governments in developed countries that voluntary reporting was working. Andrew Pendleton, senior policy officerat Christian Aid, said: “Governments must now adopt an international set of standards for the behaviour of companies.”

CSR business organisations responded by saying the role of legislation was to establish minimum standards and that CSR was about best practice.

London-based organisation Business in the Community (BITC) said more and more companies were voluntarily reporting their social and environmental impacts. BITC business director Mallen Baker said it was “premature” to introduce mandatory laws, particularly as the government was carrying out a financial review that would report on the issue in the near future. Dr Mohan Kaul, CEO of the Commonwealth Business Council, condemned the “bizarre attack on the CSR programmes operated by multinational companies as mere public relations”. And BAT head of press David Betteridge said that any laws would introduce unwanted bureaucracy.