Beyond the Core Business: Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental–Health Integration for Sustainable and Healthy Communities

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has evolved into a strategic corporate function; however, most reviews continue to frame it primarily through competitiveness and core-business alignment, offering limited analytical differentiation regarding its integration with environmental governance and public health. This study provides a conceptual synthesis of CSR evolution between 2015 and 2024, emphasizing environmental–health integration and emerging hybrid models, particularly in Latin America. A Narrative Systematic Review following PRISMA guidelines was conducted across Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, resulting in the analysis of 96 publications. Findings are structured into three ideal-typical configurations: Instrumental Competitive CSR, Adaptive Hybrid CSR, and Transformative Health-Centric CSR. The study proposes a complementary environmental health prevention framework in which companies, stakeholders, and governance actors interact to address structural determinants of health. By conceptualizing CSR as a preventive co-governance mechanism rather than a solely competitive strategy, this study advances a more theoretically grounded understanding of corporate responsibility in sustainable and healthy communities.