Revisiting the issue of socio-environmental responsibility of business

The article is devoted to a topical issue, the ecological component of economic activity, which should be regarded as an aspect of social responsibility. In this regard, the purpose of the article is to study the issues related to the formation and development of social and environmental responsibility of business. The paper presents major approaches to the essence of this economic category. It is established that social responsibility is considered as liability of economic entities for the impact of the results of their activities on the economy, society and the environment; in such a case, their behavior promotes socio-economic development of territories. The paper analyzes key parameters for the development of environmental responsibility in Russia and abroad. It reflects the main activities planned for implementation in 2017 on the territory of the Russian Federation in the framework of the Year of the Environment announced by the President of the Russian Federation. The author reveals modern trends of business involvement in issues of environmental development of the Russian Federation. The results of a survey conducted by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in 2015 allowed us to define the main environmental policy measures implemented by economic entities. On the basis of the conducted research the author shows that one of the promising areas of environmentally responsible behavior of businesses, judging by the experience of foreign countries, is the introduction of environmental management system at enterprises. It is proved that dissemination of existing experience and promotion of participation in territorial development should be promoted by the development strategy of the institute of social responsibility of business focused on the development of a set of measures to expand the practice of applying these principles in the activities of businesses. The author uses general scientific methods (logical approach, system approach, structural-functional analysis, generalization), statistical methods (grouping, selection, comparison, and generalization) as well as graphical and tabular methods of data visualization. The information base of the research consists of the works of Russian and international scholars, practitioners and experts in the field of social and environmental responsibility of businesses, the interviews with the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and the official website of the Year of Environment in Russia.