We set Group objectives every three years to drive continued improvement across the Group.
2011 – 2013 Objectives
Our current objectives in brief consist of:
- Embedding sustainability throughout the business
- Making sure people follow our code of ethics
- Promoting responsible lending and financial literacy
- Building on the Responsible Supply Chain Management programme
- Reducing our carbon footprint
Each business within IPF has its own annual targets and management plans which support the Group objectives.
The aim of these objectives is to support the business in making our operations sustainable as part of our overarching corporate strategy. When we set our 2011 – 2013 sustainability objectives we consulted widely, both internally and externally. We drew on a variety of stakeholder feedback from stakeholder roundtables, internal committees, an external review carried out by The Corporate Citizenship Company, and consultation with industry and sustainability groups such as CSR Europe, and through responsible investment channels such as FTSE4Good, Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the Carbon Disclosure Project.
Our detailed 2011 – 2013 objectives are to:
- Embed sustainability throughout the business making it a key strategic focus in the way that we make business decisions and communicate to contribute to long term performance management
- Ensure that the IPF code of ethics is understood, embedded and credible across the Group to ensure that we have successfully engaged employees in sustainability and minimise risk of unethical behaviour
- Become a recognised thought leader in the fields of responsible lending and financial literacy to improve our reputation, particularly amongst those who criticise our business model, but also with a broad range of stakeholders
- Build on the existing Responsible Supply Chain Management (RSCM) programme to ensure that we engage with all suppliers on sustainability and that RSCM factors are formally considered in choosing suppliers in high risk industries (categorised according to social, governance and environmental impact) to encourage suppliers who act on our behalf to uphold our high sustainability standards so that our reputation amongst our stakeholders is not at risk
- Reduce our carbon footprint (per customer) by 7.5% in existing businesses to make efficiency gains and respond to the feedback of stakeholders
- To reduce energy usage (per customer) by 4%
- To reduce petrol and diesel purchased for business travel by car (per customer) by 10%
- To ensure that recycled or FSC paper is used wherever possible and equals at least 10% of paper purchased in all markets
- To reduce total paper purchased by 5% (per customer)
The above environmental objectives were subject to review and amendment in the first half of 2012 after extensive consultation work across the business. When assessing our significant environmental impacts it became clear that business travel by car, which makes up three quarters of our carbon footprint, is a priority area in terms of environmental impact, resource efficiency and financial savings and, as such, we have set a substantial reduction objective in this area. Similarly, we have reduced our reduction objectives against energy and paper purchased as we believe these are lower priority impact areas and we no longer expect reductions of the same magnitude as predicted at the beginning of 2011 due to changes in internal initiatives. We remain committed to positive environmental management and to driving stakeholder value through resource efficiency.
To see how we performed in 2011 against our sustainability objectives view our target progress report.
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