Social
- As a result of our first Group-wide survey on social and — community activities in 2008, we set ourselves the target to improve upon our performance and develop a more coherent community initiative across all our businesses.
- A network of champions across Aegis Media organises community initiatives in all of our markets. These champions volunteered for the role and both monitor and implement the global strategy in a way that is locally effective.
- In 2009, our champions organised a wide range of initiatives — that positively contributed to local communities. These activities included the donation of redundant office equipment to local charities, using the specific skills of our employees to the benefit of charitable organisations, and fundraising by our employees for specific causes.
- Our 2009 survey covered all countries and businesses in the Group. Out of 74 countries, 31% reported to have organised community initiatives, with a total of 5,077 of our employees taking part. This represented 33% of our employees in 2009. Compared to 2008, employees’ involvement and activity levels have remained broadly constant.
- The estimated total value of community initiatives in 2009 was — £1.46m, equivalent to 1% of pre-tax profit. The approximate value of time donated by employees was £0.29m. The approximate value of in-kind donations from our businesses was £0.85m and financial donations and funds raised were £0.31m. This overall sum was substantially lower than that raised in 2008 (£2.7m), reflecting the challenging economic circumstances that many markets and businesses encountered during this year.
- 20% of the total value of employees’ community initiatives was — raised in the form of financial donations and cash raised; the value of in-kind donations represented 59%, with the value of employees’ donated time representing the balance of 21%. Compared to 2008, there was a clear shift away from pure financial donations to in-kind and time donations and the leveraging of our employees’ skills and knowledge for charitable purposes.
Environmental
- As a result of the first report on Aegis’s environmental impacts in — 2008, we set ourselves a target to reduce our carbon footprint as a business by 20% by 2010 and to use the network of champions to increase data accuracy and reliability.
- These champions, called ‘ — Green Beans’, organise environmental awareness raising campaigns amongst our employees and help each market to reduce our energy consumption and business travel and their impact.
- Examples of the steps taken during the year by Green Beans — to ensure our businesses become more environmentally sustainable were: ensuring recycling practices meet the latest standards, switching to renewable energy sources, reducing the consumption of energy through standby of IT equipment, and using sustainable procurement practices to select reliable suppliers.
- For the third successive year, we submitted our global carbon — footprint to the Carbon Disclosure Project.
- In 2009, the data submitted covered 68% of our employees, — and 32% of our global carbon footprint is based on extrapolated and estimated data. To ensure like-for-like comparison, we re-calibrated our 2008 data on a constant carbon conversion basis. This resulted in a higher baseline than previously disclosed but we are confident that it is a more accurate picture of our actual emissions for 2008.
- Energy consumption and business travel were identified as the — main drivers of CO2 impact, which was 44,946 metric tonnes, or 3.09 metric tonnes per full-time employee. Compared to 2008, this is a significant increase. Across the Group, energy use contributed 25,831 metric tonnes or 1.77 per full-time employee. Business travel was measured to contribute 19,115 metric tonnes in 2009, or 1.31 metric tonnes per full-time employee.
- On a constant carbon conversion basis, our carbon footprint — increased by 14% compared to 2008. This is mainly due to an apparent increase in our energy carbon footprint. As local market evidence strongly suggests that both our energy consumption and business travel actually decreased in 2009, the increase in Aegis’s carbon footprint can be attributed to increased reliability of and accuracy in the capture of emissions data across our markets and businesses.
We will continue to work towards a 20% reduction in our carbon footprint
