Alcatel-Lucent Reports on its Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives in 2009; Company Launched CSR Council and Stepped up Pace on Eco Sustainability Initiatives
- CEO Ben Verwaayen leads new CSR Council formed to increase dialogue
with external stakeholders as a step toward becoming best in class
- Acted on Bell Labs research showing networks could be thousands of
times more energy efficient, as one of the founding members of the
GreenTouch(TM) consortium
- Reinforced action plan and monitoring to drastically reduce
environmental impact of operations, meeting 2010 carbon emission
reduction goal in 2009
- Enhanced assessments of vendors to ensure eco-sustainable and CSR
practices
- Alcatel-Lucent Foundation programs supported some 21,000 students in 17
countries and encouraged volunteerism among employees
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris andNYSE: ALU) issued its 2009 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report [http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/csr/csr-report/2009-en/inbrief/index.html], which gives an update on the company's actions to operate as a responsible and involved corporate citizen. The report provides details on a broad range of activities including:
- Initiating the formation of the industry-wide GreenTouch(TM)[
http://www.greentouch.org/] consortium and launching the Alcatel-Lucent
Alternative Energy Lab [ http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/!ut
/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLd4w3MfQFSYGYRq6m-pEoYgbxjgiRIH
1vfV-P_NxU_QD9gtzQiHJHR0UAAD_zXg!!/delta/base64xml/L0lJayEvUUd3QndJQSEv
NElVRkNBISEvNl9BX0U4QS9lbl93dw!!?LMSG_CABINET=Docs_and_Resource_Ctr&
LMSG_CONTENT_FILE=News_Releases_2009/News_Article_001593.xml],
- Enhancing assessment of suppliers in its supply chain to
ensure eco-sustainable and ethical behavior throughout,
- Employee volunteer programs, and
- Creating a workplace that values diversity and provides
growth opportunities for the company's 78,000 employees around the
world.
(Due to the length of these URLs, it may be necessary to copy and paste the hyperlinks into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the space if one exists.)
In his introduction to the report, Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen stressed how central CSR is to the company's culture and way of doing business. He stated that the company's ambition in regards to CSR is to be, "best in class - nothing less, a leader in our industry across the broad range of CSR issues. Our technology is an enabler so we feel a particular obligation to be an engaged, active corporate citizen of the global community."
In 2009, the company launched its CSR Council with Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen as its chairman, to promote dialogue with external stakeholders and to get their input and guidance on the steps the company needs to take to achieve its goal of becoming best in class in terms of its CSR efforts and results. The Council comprises six of Alcatel-Lucent's senior leaders and two outside experts: Claude Fussler, Special Advisor to the United Nations Global Compact, and Eric Olson, Senior Vice President, Advisory Services, Business for Social Responsibility. The Council sets the company's CSR goals, tracks programs and advices management on issues and opportunities. It also advises the company's management committee on emerging CSR trends.
The industry-wide GreenTouchTM consortium was launched in early 2010, with much of the work for the initiative taking place in 2009, including the Bell Labs research that found communications networks could be dramatically more energy efficient than they are today. This consortium, which now has 16 members, is committed to making global communications networks 1,000 times more energy efficient than they are today. While this effort focuses on reducing the industry's own carbon footprint, the urgency for this effort is made all the more significant given that communications technology is an enabler for other industries that are also seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. Consequently, there will be an even greater dependence on networks going forward that will result in an even higher level of energy consumption unless a dramatic redesign of these networks is undertaken that emphasizes energy efficiency.
The company is mobilizing its entire workforce to reduce the company's global carbon footprint and is working on several fronts to develop more eco-sustainable networks and operations, and that effort is showing results. Alcatel-Lucent reduced its facility-based CO2 emissions by nearly 112,000 tons from 2007 to 2009, thereby exceeding its goal of reducing annual CO2 emissions by 10 percent from their 2007 level by the end of 2010, and providing more momentum for its ultimate goal of reducing its carbon footprint from all sources by 50 percent by 2020. It has a robust program to take back, remanufacture and reuse network equipment, and in 2009 handled some 636 metric tons of equipment through that program. In June, the company launched the world's first alternative energy lab and pilot site dedicated to telecommunications in Villarceaux, France. The company's Alternative Energy program was honored with France's Digital Green Growth prize [ http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM 0Y_QjzKLd4x3tXDUL8h2VAQAURh_Yw!!?LMSG_CABINET=Docs_and_Resource_Ctr&LMSG_CONT ENT_FILE=News_Releases_2009/News_Article_001886.xml] in 2009, and in March of this year received the European Commission's Sustainable Energy Europe Award 2010 [ http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM 0Y_QjzKLd4x3tXDUL8h2VAQAURh_Yw!!?LMSG_CABINET=Docs_and_Resource_Ctr&LMSG_CONT ENT_FILE=News_Releases_2010/News_Article_002009.xml], in the "Market Transformation-Voluntary Commitments" category.
Some of the other areas covered in the report are:
- Engagement with key global stakeholders, including the World
Economic Forum, the United Nations Global Compact, the Global
e-Sustainability Initiative, the Alliance for Telecommunications
Industry Solutions and the International Telecommunications Union Focus
Group on ICT and Climate change.
- Infusing sustainability and ethical practices throughout the
company's supply chain. Alcatel-Lucent conducts on-site audits of
suppliers to review the full range of CSR practices, including how
employees are treated, safety practices, social and ethical policies
as well as environmental issues. Alcatel-Lucent also engaged EcoVadis,
a company that specializes in sustainable supply management solutions,
to implement a rating system to help us better assess suppliers in this
area and help them improve their practices. Nearly 80 percent of the
assessments were rated satisfactory.
- Supporting communities through the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation
[http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/csr/htm/en/ourFoundation.html], which
spearheads the company's charitable activities. Foundation grants
focus on education programs, especially for girls and women. In 2009,
some 21,000 students around the world received help through 35
Foundation-funded projects, and employees donated some 50,000 hours of
their time to 225 "International Days of Caring" projects, ranging from
park clean up days to comprehensive mentoring programs for students, in
more than 40 countries.
As it did last year, the company is publishing this report on line, as one of the tactics it is employing to minimize its carbon emissions. The report is available in three, digital, eco-friendly formats: 2009 CSR Report In Brief version (in English only):
- http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/csr/csr-report/2009-en/inbrief/index.html
- 2009 CSR Report Interactive version:
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/csr/csr-report/2009-en/index.htm
- 2009 CSR Report Full PDF version:
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/csr/csr-report/2009-en/Alcatel-Lucent
-CSR-Report-2009-En.pdf
About Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris andNYSE: ALU) is the trusted transformation partner of service providers, enterprises, strategic industries such as defense, energy, healthcare, transportation, and governments worldwide, providing solutions to deliver voice, data and video communication services to end-users. A leader in fixed, mobile and converged broadband networking, IP and optics technologies, applications and services, Alcatel-Lucent leverages the unrivalled technical and scientific expertise of Bell Labs, one of the largest innovation powerhouses in the communications industry. With operations in more than 130 countries and the most experienced global services organization in the industry, Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with a global reach. Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 15.2 billion in 2009 and is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris. For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.
SOURCE Alcatel-Lucent
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