Executive Reports
Our Responsibility to Society
- Chairman’s Statement
- Chief Executive’s Review
- Operating Safely
- Operating Performance
- Investing for Growth
- Investing in our People
- Our Responsibility for the Environment
- Our Responsibility to Society
National Grid Transco runs the Redcar and Cleveland Warm Zone programme. This three-year scheme, part of our Affordable Warmth Programme, aims to apply energy efficiency measures to 80% of the fuel poor homes in this area.
Our Young Offender Training and Employment Programme won a National Training Award for outstanding achievement in 2004. The programme trains young offenders in the final stages of their prison sentences. On completion of the course, they are offered available jobs in their home areas.
We operate within and serve communities wherever we do business. We believe that as we show respect for the communities in which we work they will, in turn, respect our Company.
Human rights
We are committed to the protection of human rights within our sphere of influence and ensuring that our own operations are a force for good.
We have continued our work with the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights. This is a three-year initiative aimed at developing practical business tools to incorporate human rights into day-to-day business decision-making. The value of this initiative in influencing the debate on the role of business in human rights has been recognised by the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights.
Community involvement
We contribute to the local communities in which we operate through our financial donations and other support. We also encourage our employees to contribute to the communities in which we operate.
Our aim is to align our community investment spend with our business objectives. An example is in the area of fuel poverty. In the UK, through our Affordable Warmth Programme, over 344,000 homes have had energy saving measures installed and over 4,700 people have been trained in energy efficiency skills since 1999. In the US, we make a considerable financial contribution to providing direct subsidies to customers making energy efficiency investments, in addition to supporting a fuel poverty assistance programme in our operating areas.
Following the devastating Asian tsunami in December 2004, we immediately launched a 'matching' scheme for this appeal. This enabled employees to have their personal donations matched pound for pound or dollar for dollar by the Company. Thousands of employees on both sides of the Atlantic contributed and their generosity was overwhelming, with donations exceeding £200,000. In response, we made this a 'double matching' scheme so that the total donated to the appeal was more than £680,000 (including Company donations of over £450,000). The US donations were channelled through the American Red Cross, while the UK donations went to the Disasters Emergency Committee.
The corporate responsibility material in this report has been independently verified and a verification statement is included in the Independent Verifier's Report on Operating Responsibility.
The Responsibility section of our website (www.ngtgroup.com/responsibility) provides additional performance data for the last three years.