Member News Archívum - Page 62 of 62

Nestlé tops leading sustainability indices

Nestlé is the leading food products company in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the first time with a score of 88%, double the industry average.

The company has also achieved the maximum score for the second year running in the CDP ‘Climate Disclosure Leadership Index’ and the CDP ‘Climate Performance Leadership Index’, both of which are published in the Global 500 Climate Change Report 2013.

STRONG PERFORMANCE: Nestlé was measured against a number of environmental and social benchmarks.

Nestlé’s leading positions in all three indices recognise its strong performance against a number of benchmarks that measure the environmental and the social impact of its operations and the transparency of its information disclosure.

Strong policies

Nestlé’s strong policies and transparent reporting in the area of environmental sustainability – including its climate change mitigation activities, water management practices and raw material sourcing – led it to achieving 97% in the ‘environment dimension’ of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, the best score in the industry.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index is based on an analysis of companies’ economic, environmental and social performance, including areas such as corporate governance, climate strategy, supply chain standards and labour practices.

Halve emissions

Initiatives such as switching from long-distance road transportation to rail or short-sea shipping in Europe, opting for wind power to supply energy to its factories in Mexico, and installing wood-fired boilers at factories in France, have all helped Nestlé to maintain its position in the CDP rankings for the second year running.

The CDP indices measure the performance of the top 500 companies in the FTSE Global Equity Index in terms of their efforts to cut carbon emissions, as well as the transparency of the information they disclose.

Since 2002 Nestlé has managed to halve the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its factories per tonne of product, by continuing to improve energy efficiency, switching to cleaner fuels and investing in renewable sources.

Earlier this year the company announced its commitment to reducing direct GHG emissions per tonne of product by more than a third again by 2015, compared to 2005 levels.

25.09.2013

ING included in Dow Jones Sustainability Indices

Member News

ING Groep N.V. has been selected as an index component of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices 2013.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices(DJSI) – a respected global sustainability benchmark – tracks the stock performance of the world’s leading companies in terms of economic, environmental and social criteria. Being included in the DJSI means that ING is among the10% best-in-class performing companies within the ordinary Dow Jones Index in terms of economic, ecological and social criteria.

Arnaud Cohen Stuart, manager Business Ethics at ING Sustainability: “We are proud to be included in the DJSI. It demonstrates how we stepped up our efforts to integrate sustainability into our daily business.”

ING is also included in the Dow Jones Europe Index this year, as well as in the Dow Jones World Index.

The indices serve as benchmarks for investors who integrate sustainability considerations into their portfolios.

For more information about ING’s Sustainability approach, visit this site: www.ingforsomethingbetter.com

24.09.2013

4th International Holcim Awards

Member News

The Holcim Awards is one of the most significant competitions in its field in terms of reputation and international scope. The fourth cycle of the competition offering a total of USD 2 million in prize money is now open for entries. The competition seeks leading projects from industry professionals and bold ideas from the “Next Generation” that contribute to sustainability within architecture, building, civil engineering, landscape and urban design, as well as construction materials and technologies. Entries must be submitted online at www.holcimawards.org by March 24, 2014.

The Holcim Awards (main category) is open to architects, planners, engineers, project owners, builders and construction firms that showcase sustainable responses to technological, environmental, socioeconomic and cultural issues with contemporary building and construction. Projects must have reached an advanced stage of design, have a high probability of execution, and may not have started construction before July 1, 2013.

The competition also seeks visionary projects and bold ideas for the “Next Generation” (young professionals and students category). All authors of the project must be no more than 30 years of age on July 1, 2013, and the project may not have started construction before July 1, 2013.

Organized by the Swiss-based Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction the competition is conducted in parallel in five regions of the world in 2013/14 followed by a global phase in 2015. Regional winners will be announced at Holcim Awards ceremonies in late 2014 in Moscow (for region Europe), Toronto (North America), Medellín (Latin America), Beirut (Africa Middle East) and Jakarta (Asia Pacific).

Streamlined online entry process

Taking part in the competition has been streamlined by an interactive online entry form. Entries must be made in English using the web-based form to provide information on authors, a project summary and response to the “target issues” for sustainable construction, technical details, as well as project images or illustrations. A comprehensive “Step-by-step” guide explains the steps of preparing an entry at: www.holcimawards.org/guide

Internationally renowned architects and academics in juries

Independent jury panels of experts evaluate all entries against the five “target issues” for sustainable construction which cover economic, social and environmental performance as well as contextual/aesthetic impact, and innovation/transferability. The juries are headed by Jean-Philippe Vassal (for region Europe), Toshiko Mori (North America), Bruno Stagno (Latin America), Howayda Al-Harithy (Africa Middle East) and Rahul Mehrotra (Asia Pacific). A full list of jury members is available at: www.holcimawards.org/juries

Support by world-renowned technical universities

The Holcim Awards is conducted in partnership with some of the world’s leading technical universities which host the jury meetings. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) leads the Technical Competence Center of the Holcim Foundation. Other partner universities are: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), Tongji University (China), Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil), University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa), Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico), Ecole Supérieure d’Architecture de Casablanca (Morocco), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Bombay), American University of Beirut (Lebanon), Tsinghua University (China) and University of Melbourne (Australia).

More than 150 prize winning projects over ten years.

Previous Holcim Awards prize winners in more than 40 countries range from the provision of basic needs in developing communities through to complex technical solutions. Details about all previous Holcim Awards prize winners are available at: www.holcimawards.org/guide

30.07.2013

KPMG has won the “Best Advisory Project – Garai Tamás Award”

Member News

KPMG has won the “Best Advisory Project – Garai Tamás Award” by the Association of Management Consultants in Hungary

The winning project was performed by KPMG’s Sustainability Services team for Vodafone: KPMG prepared the corporate responsibility report of the business year 2011-2012 for Vodafone, and supported the related communication as well. Besides creating the report in English and in Hungarian, KPMG helped communicate the content of the report on Vodafone’s website, and prepared videos with stakeholders of the company’s CR program.

30.04.2013

Managers can do the most against corruption

Member News

Administrative solutions are not efficient without management commitment

Although most companies use various tools to prevent corruption, such tools alone will not eliminate the risk of corruption, concluded Telenor and Transparency International Hungary in their informative survey. Administrative tools in support of ethical business conduct are of no use without strong management commitment. It will be difficult to combat corruption as long as few companies apply stringent sanctions for ethical violations. To improve the situation, managers need to set an example for others.

As the survey[1] revealed, most companies are aware that the risk of corruption can be mitigated by using a code of conduct, checking for conflicts of interest and conducting supplier screenings. Nevertheless, it concluded that corporate compliance programmes alone cannot prevent corruption. This is proved by the fact that such measures are the most widely applied in industries most affected by corruption.

Administrative tools are effective only if the company’s management takes committed action. Sometimes this means that they have to forego part of their profit to remain loyal to their principles. Nevertheless, fairness pays in the long run. This is the only way to improve service quality, employee commitment and business reputation.

“We at Telenor believe that ethical conduct is an investment we owe to our customers, partners and ourselves. This is true even if we know that it makes our road to success more difficult in some economic environments. I tell every new colleague who joins Telenor that I take this very seriously. Those who have a question or issue get full support to eliminate potential ethical risks. But if we detect an ethical violation, we have zero tolerance. For a company to be ethical, it must sanction violations”, said Christopher Laska, CEO of Telenor Hungary.

The joint survey of Telenor and Transparency International Hungary found corporate codes of conduct to be the most common anti-corruption tool. 86% of the interviewed companies have such a document, but only slightly more than half (57%) of respondents provide regular training on ethical conduct for their employees which is a telling figure. Other common tools include checking for employees’ conflicts of interest (73%) and running a corporate hotline (66%). Companies tend to be less stringent in terms of supplier requirements. Although suppliers undergo detailed ethical screening at nearly two out of three companies (61%), less than half of them (46%) consider it essential to have an ethical conduct clause as an integral part of supplier contracts. Only a small percentage of the sample (3.6%) have ever trained their suppliers on ethical conduct.

The size of companies is also a decisive factor in terms of anti-corruption measures. Based on survey results, the larger a company is, the more likely it is to use anti-corruption tools. All companies with a headcount of over 2,500 have a code of conduct, most of them (89%) check for conflicts of interest and two out of three (67%) have an ethical conduct clause included in their supplier contracts.

[1] Commissioned by Telenor and Transparency International Hungary, Dun & Bradstreet conducted a non-representative survey on anti-corruption initiatives used by the most successful Hungarian companies as part of the Figyelő Top200 research programme.

06.02.2013