The energy group Eastern has stepped up its commitment to social responsibility by producing its first sustainability report and promising to devise a ‘social action plan’.
The UK’s fourth largest power generator says that it will develop the plan as part of its ‘emerging approach to social accountability’.
It has set up an internal Social Action Group to look at ways in which the company can help disadvantaged sections of society and ‘make corporate responsibility an important part of our customer base’.
It also pledges to look at producing a group policy ‘to include emerging ethical, social and environmental aspects of business sustainability’ with the help of Forum for the Future, a UK sustainable development body.
Eastern’s first sustainability report says the group will consider expanding the role of its external Environmental Advisory Body – which offers advice on environmental issues – ‘to include social issues within the context of business sustainability’.
It hopes the advisory body can act as ‘an external health check’ on ‘the wider issues of business sustainability as a whole’.
The group, which operates 10 power stations in the UK representing about 12 per cent of the country’s generating capacity, is also to review its environmental policy statement, which was first published in 1992.
The 36-page sustainability report, verified by Ai Associates, follows on from five previous environmental reports by the group, but now includes social and economic aspects of its business activities.
It has been produced by the company’s Sustainable Business Unit along the lines of draft reporting guidelines produced by the Global Reporting Initiative earlier this year, for which Eastern was chosen as an international pilot company.
Ai Associates verifier Ian Roberts claimed data in the new report was still ‘heavily biased towards environmental issues’ but he expected it ‘to become increasingly focused’ on social matters in future.
Eastern says it may report on worldwide operations, not just UK activities, in two year’s time.