Cable & Wireless has pledged to build environmental criteria into the selection of its suppliers.
The UK-listed telecoms giant, which operates in more than 70 countries
and employs 50,000 people, makes the promise in its first environment
and community report.
C&W says it will begin to work
with key strategic suppliers ‘to incorporate environmental
considerations into business processes’. As a first step, print
suppliers have already been made subject to environmental assessments.
C&W will also carry out more supplier checks using benchmarks
devised by the UK-based Business Environment Association and run an
employee awareness campaign on environmental management.
It says some of the company’s new environmental targets will have to be
met by putting pressure on suppliers, and adds: ‘We do not expect that
these [difficulties] can be eliminated overnight, but we do want to
work jointly to find innovative solutions to environmental challenges.’
The report, which covers all C&W’s global businesses, is published
in a pull-out pack format in which a general overview is supplemented
by 12 leaflet-style summaries of areas such as supplier partnerships,
customer and employee relationships, community involvement and ethics
policies.
Fiona Ball, C&W environment manager, said
the report would ‘establish a baseline of performance data for
subsequent years so that we can measure our future progress’. The
group’s previous venture into non-financial reporting – an environment
review in 1996 – did not cover community matters.
Simon
Propper of the consultancy Environmental Context, which verified the
report, said that despite some gaps it was ‘a considerable achievement’
and ‘a genuine effort to identify all the important issues and to
address them openly’.
The report promises to ‘foster open
communication’ with neighbours living and working in areas near C&W
facilities and to expand its community work.
The group last year spent £5.7million, or 0.3 per cent of pre tax profit, on community projects worldwide.
An internal survey showed employees generally supported the company’s
ethics policy, which was drawn up in 1996, but thought that better
training was needed on ethical issues.
The audit also
commits the group to having environmental management systems in all of
its businesses by the end of 2001. It says the deadline is ‘a
challenging target but one we are determined to meet’ and reports that
some businesses already have systems in place.
