Controlling our environmental impact
Due to the nature of our business, Capita has a low environmental impact compared to organisations of similar size in other industry sectors. This is confirmed by our FTSE4Good environmental impact rating of ‘low’. However, we understand that good environmental management is integral to our business and make every effort to minimize the impact of our operations.
Energy
Our most significant environmental impact is energy. In 2006, we launched a Group-wide programme to reduce the amount of electricity used at 18 of our largest sites by 12% by the end of 2008. We are progressing well against our targets, having reduced the amount of electricity used by 8% (an emissions reduction of just under 1,000 tonnes CO2), and will be rolling the programme out to the entire Group in 2008.
We have also been working with the Carbon Trust to educate our facilities managers and are about to launch Capita’s “green pages” – an area on our intranet giving staff information about what they can do to reduce their own and the Company’s carbon footprint.
Transport
Transport is the other area in which we have the biggest environmental impact. Our company car policy states that all new and replacement company cars will be diesel, and 95% of our fleet cars have switched to diesel. The policy is undergoing a review to reflect changes in Health and Safety liabilities, keep it attractive to staff and increase incentives to reduce carbon emissions by improving the flexibility for drivers to trade down to cars with lower emissions.
We try to reduce car travel generally and continue to promote the use of our BT conference call facility throughout the business,with over 34,000 conference calls made over the last year, a third more than the previous year. We also support local initiatives such as lift sharing and shuttle buses to and from our offices and are evaluating the Government’s ‘cycle to work’ scheme.
Waste
In order to be a sustainable business we need to look at the resources we use, how we recycle them, and how we dispose of them.
This year we have worked with our suppliers to source environmentally friendly products, and through our work with Office Depot have increased the proportion of environmentally responsible goods available to Capita sites. As a direct result, 17% of our total contract spend with Office Depot in 2007 was on environmentally responsible products.
We also continued to develop effective waste management policies and run various recycling schemes to ensure used IT equipment, toner cartridges, mobile phones and paper are either recycled or responsibly disposed of, as set out in the EU WEEE Directive.
In 2006, we set up the Digital Pipeline Initiative, donating our redundant IT equipment to schools and community centres in developing countries. In 2007 we donated over 8,000 units.
Supporting our communities
The nature of our business means that we are based in the heart of the communities we serve. Our interest in corporate responsibility (CR) arises from a recognition of the impact our business operations have on those communities.
We have created a community investment and engagement strategy that focuses on how businesses and staff can make a positive impact on the communities in which they operate.
There is direction and assistance from the Group but businesses are empowered to undertake local initiatives that are most appropriate to the needs of their local communities.
Our strategy focuses on two areas – local community partnerships and charitable initiatives.
Local community partnerships
Our regional partnerships have helped to increase job creation, local purchasing and investment in community initiatives. Our regional business centre strategy for creating new sites also helps to channel job creation opportunities to deprived areas. Our businesses are also encouraged to invest in and support local initiatives that add social or environmental value.
Charitable initiatives
At a corporate level our charitable strategy is to support initiatives that address social and educational exclusion whether due to disability, economic or social circumstances.
2007 marked the end of our successful corporate charity partnership with the NSPCC and The Prince’sTrust. Our partnership directly raised £1.55m and a further £1.7m through sponsorship of the charities’ events.
From 2008, following feedback from employees, we decided to support one charity, chosen by staff, at Group level alongside specific local projects. Staff voted to work with Macmillan Cancer Support. As employees were fully involved in the selection process we hope to see greater engagement over the next year.
As our business expands, our community programme will grow to reflect these developments. With continuous employee consultation, we will refresh and widen our programme – supporting our staff-selected charity or local charities where our corporate charity is not represented – as well as specific local community projects.
To reflect the growth of our operations in India we have set up a community initiative in Mumbai, initially providing support for an orphanage and its school. We work closely with our operations in each community to identify the best way of contributing to the community.
Full details of our CR priorities, initiatives and progress are detailed in our annual CR report available at www.capita.co.uk/corporate-responsibility