Giving Compass' Take:

• Stanford Social Innovation Review reports on a new French law that is about to revamp the country’s civil code and its 200-year-old definition of corporate purpose.

• What can the U.S. learn from this policy? Are we doing enough to encourage more Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives to protect our environment and promote equity?

• Here's more on how to turn CSR ambitions into a reality.

In October, the French National Assembly passed Article 61 of the government’s Action Plan for the Business Companies’ Growth and Transformation (Loi PACTE). Article 61 follows recommendations made by business leaders Jean-Dominique Senard, CEO of Michelin, and Nicole Notat, founder of Vigéo, on how to make businesses more sustainable and in line with collective social and environmental interests. If the Senate passes it after examination in early 2019, which is necessary for it to become law, it will revise the very definition of corporate purpose.

1. Corporations will need to consider the social and environmental stakes of their activities. The law revises the definition of corporate purpose in the civil code for the first time since it was drafted in 1804.

2. Corporations will be able to define a purpose beyond profits. According to the new law, a corporation can specify in its charters a raison d’être — the principles it gives to itself to guide its business policy and strategic decisions.

3. Corporations will be able to adopt a new corporate form. The law also creates a new corporate form called the société à mission.

Read the full article about the French law revisiting corporate purpose by lanche Segrestin, Kevin Levillain and Armand Hatchuel at Stanford Social Innovation Review.