Engineering and power group ABB says the cost of its sustainability programme has ‘stabilized’ at $55million (£36m) after rising steadily for three years.
The Zurich-based multinational, which had profits of $5billion last year, says that meeting ISO environmental management standards accounted for most of the costs. Stakeholder dialogue carried out in 34 countries last year cost $1m. This sought views on the group’s social policy, established in early 2001, and found stakeholders were more concerned with the ethical performance of suppliers than of the group. ABB is now devising a supply chain programme to reflect this.
The figures are revealed in ABB’s latest sustainability report, which is verified by Det Norske Veritas. The first ABB report to conform to Global Reporting Initiative guidelines, it covers the activities of 80 per cent of ABB’s 157,000 employees compared with 65 per cent in 2000, and includes some quantitative data on social performance, such as pay levels relative to minimum wages in various countries.