In a region made up of so many distinct cultures, languages and approaches it’s hardly surprising that this landscape is anything but uniform.

It’s multi-dimensional: the issues morph and change and CR is viewed differently from country to country. It’s multi-layered: issues are connected and conflicting, there are big challenges and big opportunities. And it’s multi-speed: countries, governments, companies and consumers across Europe are at different points on their sustainability journey for different reasons – some good, some not so good.

But all of this just makes it more interesting.

We’ve asked a range of specialists to contribute their thoughts on some of the bigger ‘plates’ that are moving under this shifting landscape. The list is obviously not designed to be exhaustive, but we’ve picked:

• Future energy
• Water
• Stakeholder dialogue
• Responsible marketing
• Sustainable consumption

So what has Directions unearthed?

Companies and governments are going at different speeds; some companies are making impressive headway but the regulatory framework isn’t there to shape the future – and companies are now crying out for regulatory consistency; stakeholders are more important than ever, and there are more ways to engage with them than ever before; the current economic climate may actually prove to be the best environment to help the sustainability agenda as longer term thinking is now seen as essential; trust and confidence in business are still a struggle but responsibility in marketing is improving; water is looming as the next major crisis – and the water footprint of European business reaches way beyond the continent itself.

So this year’s Directions starts to map out some of the big areas of interest in CR across Europe – but it’s a huge topic and we only scratch the surface so let us know what’s going on where you are, what you’d like to see debated, what the big issues are in your country or what you think of what we think.