Vauxhall Motors has detailed its commitment to social responsibility in the first sustainability report to be published by a European motor manufacturer.
The UK-based company, which is owned by the world's largest car maker, General Motors, says that 'societal influences' like traffic congestion and global warming, and increasing pressure on the industry's profits, are forcing it to take a broader view of its responsibilities by integrating environmental, social and economic objectives.
Vauxhall's report takes a triple bottom line approach, including details of its financial, social and environmental performance. It says the company will extend the influence of stakeholders, including employees, local communities and pressure groups.
At the start of this year, Vauxhall conducted pilot surveys to help identify key areas of interest to stakeholders relating to sustainability. Initial results suggest environmental performance is the most 'attention-grabbing' issue.
However, chairman and managing director Nick Reilly points out that the company has set itself some tough new challenges, 'particularly in the area of social policy'.
Several guidelines were used to prepare the 88-page report, including the draft guidelines issued by the Global Reporting Initiative (EP2, 2000), the UK government's greenhouse-gas emission reporting guidelines and the eco-efficiency profile promoted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
The WBCSD eco-efficiency profile does not cover social issues, so Vauxhall has used six indicators as an 'initial guide' to its social performance (see box below). The choice of indicators reflects the outcome of extensive consultation which concluded that stakeholders considered customers to be the car maker's most important area of social responsibility, closely followed by responsibility to employees.
Vauxhall has set up environmental management systems at all of its facilities and has joined Sigma, a government-funded project which aims to establish standards for social, environmental and ethical management for UK companies (EP7, 1999).
General Motors announced last year that all product suppliers worldwide should be certificated to ISO 14001, the environmental management standard, by the end of 2002. Currently, 38 out of 250 UK suppliers to Vauxhall are registered to ISO 14001.
The Trades Union Congress welcomed the report as 'a step towards greater transparency,' but added that future reports should include the 'gender and ethnicity profile of different grades of staff throughout the organization.'
The business sustainability consultancy Sd3 Ltd is acting as Vauxhall's sustainability advisors.