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Corporate Responsibility Report 2009 Introduction and Approach Contents Corporate responsibility report 2009 Introduction and approach Contents Introduction and approach 3 Chief Executive’s introduction 4 Highlights and challenges 2009 5 Assurance and scope 5 Our approach 6 Understanding our business 7 Our CR strategy 7 CR Committee and governance 8 CR Committee Performance 2009 9 Business case 10 Risk management and internal control 11 Business principles 13 Applying our business principles 13 Business principles performance 2009 14 Employees ‘speaking up’ Corporate responsibility report 2009: Introduction and approach 2 Introduction and approach Chief Executive’s introduction Centrica achieved a great deal in 2009 in what was a very challenging business environment and I am delighted to present this report which describes our corporate responsibility (CR) progress during the year. It highlights how CR is central to our business strategy and demonstrates our ambition for Centrica to be a CR leader. We made transformational changes to the business in 2009, We made good progress in other areas such as health and taking important steps towards our vision of becoming the safety, where we are reporting a significant reduction in injuries, leading integrated energy company. The acquisition of Venture and in building trust with customers as reflected in improved Production and a 20% stake in British Energy means we have a customer satisfaction scores. We have also integrated health, more robust business model, capable of meeting a greater safety and environment metrics into annual performance proportion of our customer’s energy needs from our own reviews which are linked to our employee bonus scheme. sources. And the restructuring of British Gas into a single business will enable us to meet the future energy and energy These are important changes within the business but more is services requirements of our customers. needed and we are seeking to strengthen the foundations of sustainable business practice across the company. For instance, However, we are conscious that we must continue to transform the majority of activity in this report is from the UK and we need the business to meet the needs of a low carbon future. Society to achieve similar progress in North America. The new as a whole must adjust to reduce its impact on the environment management team at Direct Energy is seeking to create an and to both mitigate and adapt to climate change. In the UK, integrated energy model in North America, but we must take into environmental initiatives are already leading to reductions in account the fact that market conditions present different energy consumption. sustainability challenges. We aim to lead this transition by providing energy for a low But we cannot follow our agenda without also continuing to build carbon future. We’re already making strong inroads with our off trust among all our stakeholders as this will empower us to drive take of low carbon nuclear energy and will continue to be a change and lead on debates around the future of energy. We leader in offshore wind generation. But to prosper fully in a low earn trust by treating people fairly, being open and transparent carbon world we need to transform Centrica from an energy and demonstrating commitment to the highest ethical standards. supplier to an energy and energy services provider. That is why Over the next few months we will be seeking feedback and we have restructured British Gas and are now building our skills engaging with stakeholders to define the steps needed to and capabilities in energy efficiency, smart metering and achieve a low carbon future. You can follow our progress on our microgeneration. website at www.centrica.com/views, where you can share your views on our performance and plans. Becoming a low carbon services provider offers opportunities but also new risks, such as whether increased energy services I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge – for will offset lower energy consumption. To address these issues, companies like Centrica and for society as a whole – in we reviewed our CR strategy in 2009, aiming to coordinate our achieving a low carbon future. Leadership is needed and we are activities across the company to deliver on our goal of energy for determined to provide that leadership as we pursue our a low carbon future. responsible business strategy. The actions described in this report set us on the right path. Through smart metering, microgeneration and our new insulation business we will be leading the transition in Britain towards low carbon and low energy housing – improving people’s homes and helping to reduce their energy bills in the process. Investment in the Lincs wind farm will expand Centrica’s existing offshore wind capacity. We also achieved an industry first in refinancing the Lynn, Inner Dowsing and Glens of Foudland wind farms, unlocking capital which can Sam Laidlaw now fund new projects. Chief Executive Corporate responsibility report 2009: Introduction and approach 3 Highlights and challenges 2009 We were pleased with our progress across the CR agenda in 2009 and have highlighted below some of our key achievements. However, we cannot be complacent and there is still more to do. So, we have identified those areas that will require particular focus in 2010. CR strategic review Health and safety We conducted a comprehensive review of our corporate We decreased our LTI rate by 50% in 2009, as a result of a responsibility strategy and approach as a result of key significantly renewed focus and effort of health and safety and transformational changes to our business. The changes include our performance in this area is closely monitored by our our acquisition of gas producer Venture Production and our Executive Committee. We have embedded a new management purchase of a 20% stake in nuclear generator British Energy. We system, set out our roadmap for improvement, and incorporated have also consolidated our British Gas business and shifted its health, safety and environment objectives into our annual focus from an energy supply to an energy services model. incentive scheme for employees. More to do More to do Our strategy has been agreed but we must now work to develop We can never afford to lose our focus on health and safety. We and implement our new approach, ensuring consistency across have further to go in embedding a culture where health and the business. We are aiming for leadership in corporate safety is a core value of the organisation. We aim to achieve responsibility, with a focus on where we think that we can have leading standards in all areas of health and safety, ensuring the most impact which is to provide ‘energy for a low carbon Centrica benchmarks favourably against leading organisations world’. However, we must ensure that our strategy in this area. implementation meets the different needs of both our main markets, UK and North America. The changes to the business also bring specific challenges, for example, we must align Venture’s processes and systems with those of the wider Group. Vulnerable customers Climate change and the We having been delivering on our vulnerable customer strategy in the UK and develop a more strategic approach in North environment America. In 2009, we supported around 2.2m vulnerable households with discounted fuel, benefits advice, debt We exceeded all three key targets set for 2009 around the assistance and other services provided through our charity environment: we continued to reduce our carbon intensity below partners. Our industry-leading approach aims to target our 2012 target; we provided energy efficient products to customers with appropriate support, rather than assuming that customers that are equivalent to lifetime carbon savings of ‘one size fits all’. 17.53m tonnes; and we reduced our own office energy usage in the UK by 8.36%. We introduced a new Group Environment policy More to do and we reassessed our key targets to ensure that they continued to challenge us. We also achieved a score of 84% in the Carbon The recent Energy Act 2010 will enable the UK Government to Disclosure Project, ranking us as the top utility in Europe. In early introduce mandated social tariffs in 2011. We must now 2010, ‘energy for a low carbon world’ became the strapline to our reassess our approach to take this into account and to ensure new commercial strategic priorities. This and the shift in the British that we are still able to meet the needs of our vulnerable and in- Gas model demonstrate how we are successfully starting to need customers in the most appropriate way. embed the low carbon agenda across our business. More to do Supply chain There is still much more to do to embed and implement our climate change strategy throughout our business Our focus is We signed up 101 suppliers to contracts containing responsible now on delivering energy for a low carbon world and on procurement clauses in 2009. We are now reporting on this as a developing a consistent approach for managing and mitigating key performance indicator for the first time. our environmental impacts across our business. The situation in North America is different to that in the UK, as there is not such More to do a developed regulatory framework to support investment in renewables or the development of markets in microgeneration We must now focus on embedding these commitments among and energy efficiency. However, we need to work towards a our suppliers so that we have confidence in the standards of our robust Group approach that enables us to monitor, measure and supply chain. We also aim to develop processes that enable us report on progress in accordance with best practice. to effectively monitor suppliers’ compliance to the standards. Corporate responsibility report 2009: Introduction and approach 4 Employees Belgium.
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