University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

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from its experiences and dialogues that taking a mere reactive approach would
simply not cut it in the long run. The technology based preventive approach on the
other hand, would be more efficient in terms of resource consumption as well as in
reducing its abatement costs.
In the last ten years, Danfoss has voluntarily engaged in initiatives such as the
Danish Business Panel for Climate Change, the Danish Council for Sustainable
Development, Alliance to Save Energy, Caring for Climate and so forth. With its
participation in the UN Global Compact, in 2002, Danfoss increased its efforts in
terms of publicizing and reporting on environmental and social issues, which is
significant as it was only in 2009 that the Danish government made CSR reporting
mandatory. The company has the intention as well as the motivation in keeping up
with international developments such as climate change issues, where the company is
already formulating its own climate change strategy. Generally it was found that
Danfoss’ advanced development state and its strong capacity are believed to have
provided the company the ability to respond to pressures and expectations favourably.
Being in the loop of these international developments would have given Danfoss the
opportunities to learn what is expected of them and also of what other companies or
its competitors are doing in CSR matters. For example, Danfoss might have learned
that active engagements or partnerships and active dialogues may be deemed more
favourable rather than passive contributions, in the public eye.
Within the context of learning, it was found that Danfoss has been proactive,
particularly in its approach to products and processes. Firstly, Danfoss had gone from
merely getting a permit to pollute to establishing its own environmental monitoring
facility, even though this was uncommon during the 1970s. Danfoss then decided to
change its approach towards environmental problems, from a reactive end‐of‐pipe
approach to one that is more pollution‐preventive. Although the general trend in the
early 1990s, was more focused on cleaner production, Danfoss had the foresight to
make cleaner products. Lastly, due to its global expansion, the increasing pressures
forces the company to be more active in participation or dialogues internationally.
Danfoss is engaged with various CSR‐related international quarters such as the UN
Global Compact and the “Caring for Climate” program. Dialogues between Danfoss
and other stakeholders are established; as an example, the interactions with NGOs
were specifically underlined by the CSR & Environment director. In communicating
its activities and efforts, Danfoss had first started out with environmental reporting
but it has now included CSR reporting as well, which covers mainly social actions.
The analyses on its CSR reports showed that Danfoss is advanced in sustainability
reporting.
As employees are considered the most significant stakeholders in terms of CSR,
there is immense evidence showing Danfoss’ efforts in communicating its activities
to its employees through various mediums. Danfoss appeared also to have improved
its conduct within the employee relations wave, from merely providing aid to
increasing efforts in getting feedback from its employees. However, some
weaknesses in the CSR implementation of Danfoss were identified. The employee
survey revealed that the current engagement of employees with regard to CSR in
Danfoss is not very high despite the majority of the respondents considered it
important that the company practises CSR. However, it is noted that Danfoss has
regular dialogue with the employee elected representatives who were influential in