Assoc. Prof. Emel Özdora of the Department of Communication and Design gave a Science Café (Bilim Kafe) talk titled “From CSR to ESG: Sustainability and the Transformation of Green Industrialization in Türkiye in Light of COP31” on Wednesday, October 14, in the C-Block Auditorium.
The talk was part of the Science Café series organized by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) and coincided with the seminars Bilkent held ahead of the COP31 UN Climate Change Conference, to be held in Antalya on November 9–20.
Özdora traced the evolution of corporate social responsibility (CSR) — from early thinkers such as Howard Bowen, Milton Friedman and R. Edward Freeman to frameworks like the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement — and its shift toward ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), which turns broad ethical commitments into measurable indicators reported to investors and the public.
Turning to Türkiye, she followed the country’s path from Ottoman foundation (vakıf) culture to today’s international standards, noting that sustainability reporting became mandatory for larger companies under the Turkish Sustainability Reporting Standards (TSRS) in January 2024.
