Managing CR

Responsible business practice is critical to our success as a company. It helps us capture economic benefits by adopting a more forward looking approach and helps us manage risk more effectively. It also helps us identify opportunities for new products and services.

Responsible practice is essential in maintaining morale and motivating our workforce, in building effective community relationships and recruiting and retaining employees. It also helps us develop stronger relationships with our stakeholders so that we can take account of the issues that most concern them.

What does responsible business practice mean to us?

It means we:

• consider environmental, ethical and society impacts when making business decisions. For instance, financial investments require an analysis of the potential social and economic impacts of that decision. We also involve stakeholders as part of the analysis for specific decisions
• participate in activities that have a social and/or environmental benefit. This ranges from supporting the most vulnerable through our Health Through Warmth Programme to working with organisations such as the National Trust to develop low-carbon villages
• work with our stakeholders to ensure we understand their needs and concerns, and to consult them when we have difficult or controversial decisions to make
• ensure that our employees understand the issues that are critical to our business such as climate change, that they understand our company values and code of conduct.