Annual report & review 2006 - Shopic.com

Responsibility
Sustainability
How we work
Climate change, energy security and energy
management are crucial sustainability issues for
businesses and critical for us all as human beings. This
is why showing concern for the environment is no longer
sufficient in itself – collective action is now imperative at
all levels of society.
We are committed to playing a leadership role in tackling
sustainability challenges by managing and minimising
any negative impacts of our business.
Of course sustainability is not just about the environment;
it is how our company lives, works and conducts business
in the community and is central to how we do business.
For example, our retailer partners operate in the heart
of local communities, reducing the need for the long
journeys and therefore the emissions associated with
out of town shopping. Wherever possible, we work with
local suppliers – which means we tend to buy British in
Great Britain, Irish in Ireland and use Spanish suppliers
in Spain.
This all adds up to more convenience and better products,
as well as a significantly reduced carbon footprint.
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We believe sustainability should not be reduced to a
shopping list of gestures, but must be integral to how
companies do business, as well as being measurable
and transparent. This is why we were the first company in
the world to report its sustainability performance using
the second Global Reporting Initiative’s guidelines, and
we would like to think that we remain progressive, on a
global level, in this way.
We were also the first Irish company
to join the United Nations Global
Compact Network, through which
we commit to upholding its ten
principles within the areas of human
rights, labour, the environment and
anti‐corruption.
How we make a difference
Our business continues to grow significantly in
scale and complexity, and also in terms of its
geographical spread. As a result, managing our
sustainability performance in areas such as waste
management, energy efficiency and ethical trade
has become increasingly challenging, which is why
we are approaching these issues in a systematic and
thorough way.
During 2005, we decided it was time to review our
Environmental Policy Charter, which was originally
published in 2000. The result is a more broadlybased
Environmental and Social Accountability Policy
which represents a new milestone in our programme
Musgrave Group Plc Annual Report & Review 2006