Responsible Business Award Winners 2012 Announced

June 27, 2012 - PRLog -- M&S, Timberland, National Australia Bank and Telecom Development Company Afghanistan amongst winners at Ethical Corporation Responsible Business Awards 2012

London, 26th June 2012

Last night, over 180 of the world's leading sustainability experts gathered at Ethical Corporation's glamorous awards ceremony dinner in central London.

Ethical Corporation honoured leading companies and individuals for their impressive contributions to the responsible business agenda in 2011-2012.

Below is a recap of the winners and highly commended organizations for each category and what the judges said:

B2B Collaboration

Highly commended: Arla Foods and McDonald’s

The judges praised this entry as a model for genuine collaboration between partners that had made a substantive difference to the recycling of organic milk containers for the dairy industry across 1250 UK restaurants.

The pilot project saved more than 300 tonnes of plastic from landfill. The judges were impressed by the ambitious plans to scale up from the pilot.

Winner: Heathrow and the Heathrow Sustainability Partnership

The judges commend Heathrow’s ambition and breadth of partnership for bringing together a wide variety of partners including competitors.

The partnership has clear top level CEO commitment. The judges were impressed that 95% of partner companies involved have committed to a waste action plan.

This shows concrete evidence of an effective partnership with excellent scope for further development.

Most Innovative Company

The judges found this a really tough category to pick a winner in. All entries were strong. So they only picked a winner, commending the other entries for their strength and quality.

Winner: UPM

The judges commended UPM for its commitment to creating innovative materials for increased recyclability and robustness.

The judges mentioned that they are keen to see the development of more such disruptive technologies. This is traditionally a very challenging category and the judges commended the effort of all entrants to demonstrate genuine innovation in their sustainability approach.

Best Sustainability Report

Winner: Timberland

The judges praised the high level of interactivity evident in this entry. It is designed to help people understand the issues at stake and contribute their own comments. Timberland provides comprehensive and honest information on its supplier factories. It’s quarterly updates add a real time aspect to the report.

Best Consumer Engagement

The judges found this category too close to call to pick a highly commended company, and wished to congratulate all entrants on excellent submissions.

Winner: Deutsche Telekom

The judges praised the sheer scale and creativity of this engagement initiative to improve mobile phone recycling. It involved a wide range of activities from postage to working with the German national football team.

Deutsche Telekom went a long way beyond compliance to provide a catalyst for the collection and recycling of around 600,000 mobile phones.

The judges were impressed by the scale and impact of the effort.

Best private company – Award category sponsored by Firmenich

Highly commended: SC Johnson

The judges commend SC Johnson’s leadership at a high level on sustainability. SC Johnson’s comprehensive commitment to CSR covers everything from employee engagement to reducing environmental impact across the board.

Winner: Telecom Development Company Afghanistan (Roshan)

The judges praised Roshan’s long term commitment to Afghanistan. In a country where deeply conservative traditional values are still the norm this organization boasts a workforce which includes 20% women and the first female director in the country.

The judges were impressed by how Roshan recognises its position of responsibility as the state’s single largest investor and taxpayer and acts accordingly in providing opportunities for Afghans under difficult circumstances.

Best Sustainability Software

Winner: Credit 360

The judges praised the versatility and widespread use of Credit 360’s software, which is used by a number of leading brands on a variety of sustainability issues from reporting to supply chain management.

In the judge’s opinion, this entrant has demonstrated an early leadership position and continuing evolution in serving both customers and society and the environment and so is a deserved winner

Supply Chain Excellence

Winner: Marks & Spencer

The judges praised M&S’s commitment to the pursuit and achievement of ambitious supply chain goals. They have collaborated extensively with numerous NGOs and charities.

The judges are pleased to see Marks & Spencer has taken the step of engaging directly with 1,200 of its suppliers and in particular their financial support of suppliers building eco factories in countries such as Sri Lanka and in other important sourcing markets.

Authentic Stakeholder Outreach

Winner: National Australia Bank

The judges praised NAB for staying true to the original values of micro finance by providing financial services for Australians unable to access basic banking services.

By implementing a fair micro finance programme NAB is protecting disadvantaged Australians from unscrupulous lenders and developing a new product line linked with sustainability.

The authentic communications and outreach work around this financial inclusion programme impressed the judges greatly.

Best Corporate Partnership

Winner: Novartis for its partnership with Roll Back Malaria

The judges praised Novartis’ highly effective systems-based approach to improving access to medicine.

The pilot mentioned in the entry involved an impressive 1.2 million people and reduced drug non availability in the target population from 26% to just 1%.

As of December 2011 the programme has been scaled up to cover a target population of 26 million.

Best Employee Engagement

Winner: Compartamos Banco

The judges felt that Compartamos was a deserving winner due to employee engagement figures exceeding 70%. The creation of local champions across 400 branches shows employee-lead commitment to CSR.

For a small bank operating in Mexico the depth of engagement is impressive. Engagement is focused on core business areas and comprehensive community involvement and this impressed the judges greatly.

Sustainability Commercialised

Winner: Itaú Unibanco

The judges praised Itau’s use of an innovative branchless financial services model in response to Brazil’s highly evolved and established informal economy.

The judges also recognise the need for further development and scaling up of microfinance in order for it to deliver on its true potential.

Sustainability Executive of the Year

Winner: Cristina Amorim - VP of global citizenship at Life Technologies

Cristina Amorim has been at the vanguard of Life Technologies emergence as a CSR leader. She has led Life Technologies recent promotion into the DSJI and FTSE4Good.

Highly visible in the company and having had a clear impact whilst making sustainability strategic in the business it was clear to the judges that she was the deserving winner of 2012’s award.

All other entries were very strong, and our judges wished to offer them all congratulations on their excellent work over the last year.

Business leader

Winner: John Brock, Coca Cola Enterprises CEO & Chairman

The judges praised John Brock’s no nonsense implementation and leadership of a new sustainability plan. Under his leadership Coca Cola Enterprises commitment to sustainability has become a clear strategic priority.

This is an abbreviated version of the press release. To see the full version visit http://www.ethicalcorp.com/business-strategy/press-releas...

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For more about the Responsible Business Awards contact:

Emmeline Rajasingam

Ethical Corporation: Business Intelligence for Sustainability

emmeline.rajasingam@ethicalcorp.com

+44 (0)207 375 7213