2016 Shortlist

Launched in 2010, Future Proof is Dentsu Aegis Network’s (DAN) sustainability strategy. The strategy has moved us from a laggard to a sustainability leader in the advertising and media industry. During a period of double-digit company growth, Future Proof reduced our carbon footprint by 20% and built an innovative community investment programme that supported more than 2,000 small- and medium-sized charitable organisations around the world. We set the new standard for sustainability in our industry with Future Proof and unlocked the power of advertising and media to accelerate ideas that will change the world.

The Midcounties Co-operative is a consumer co-operative owned by its members, and social responsibility is at the heart of everything we do. We are the largest independent co-operative in the UK with a turnover surpassing £1billion, and operate across a diverse range of businesses, including Food, Energy, Travel, Healthcare, Funeralcare and Childcare. We aim to be a successful consumer co-operative working towards creating a better, fairer world, enhancing the lives of our colleagues, members, customers and the communities we serve. To help us achieve this, we apply our DOES values and principles (democracy, openness, equality and social responsibility) that guide co-operatives around the world.

Smithfield Foods is passionate about producing “Good food. Responsibly.” As a leading consumer packaged-meats company and the world’s largest hog producer and pork processor, Smithfield believes it has a responsibility to lead the industry in corporate social responsibility. In setting its standards, Smithfield developed and maintains a comprehensive sustainability program focused on ensuring safe, rewarding jobs for employees; the humane treatment of animals; stewardship of the environment; safe and high-quality food production; and the vitality of local communities.

Élan Hair Design of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire is a family hairdresser with a commitment to the environment. The business embarked upon an eco-friendly project which has included a £250,000 refurbishment of its premises followed by the implementation of a series of working practices which have allowed the salon to cut its carbon emissions by 94% and divert 95% of its waste from landfill. Additionally Élan has cut its water consumption by 82%, while a raft of savings in what is an energy intensive industry has allowed the business to grow to become the UK’s most eco-friendly hair salon.

HUF HAUS set a target to create a carbon neutral, efficient and sustainable house which simultaneously makes a strong contemporary architectural statement with uncompromised luxury. A tremendous amount of effort and know-how went into streamlining this design and integrating the technical details into the architectural concept. The symbiosis of technology and architecture make this house one of the most engineered houses in the UK.

The Islington Sustainable Energy Partnership (ISEP) partnered with local school Robert Blair Primary School to raise over £12,000 to install 16 solar panels on the school’s roof. The income and savings generated by the panels provide £1,000 a year to spend on resources, whilst providing a fantastic educational resource for the school’s 240 pupils to learn about energy and climate change. The panels have reduced the annual carbon footprint of the school by 2t CO2. The project inspired a crowdfunding campaign to raise the funds from local businesses and via the community, building strong relationships between the school and local businesses.

Riversimple’s Purpose is “To pursue, systematically, the elimination of the environmental damage caused by personal transport.” We have designed and built a hydrogen fuel cell car from scratch to be highly efficient, affordable, and desirable. The Rasa is a road legal engineering prototype that does the equivalent of 250mpg, with lower carbon emissions ‘well to wheel’ than any car available today. Riversimple has taken a ‘whole system design’ approach at three levels – the car is radically efficient, the business model aligns interests of company with those of society, and the governance balances and protects the interests of multiple stakeholders.

In 2015, SmartestEnergy launched the UK’s first certificate-backed renewable electricity product and Energy Label, providing transparency and clarity for businesses buying renewable electricity, reducing emissions and offering reputational benefit. SmartestEnergy’s product was developed to meet Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope2 guidance criteria, updated in January 2015. Working with the Carbon Trust, SmartestEnergy developed an Emissions Factor Model to allocate Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGO) certificates for every MWh supplied, providing unrivalled levels of transparency. Certified to GHG Protocol Product Standard, the Model enabled the creation of the first ever business Energy Label, allowing businesses to demonstrate their commitment to renewables.

Since 2007, the Co-operative Bank has taken a leadership position on carbon, by encouraging colleagues and customers to drive down emissions and by working with climate and sustainable development experts ClimateCare to go Beyond Carbon Neutral. In addition to reducing CO2 annually (over 17% in 2015), the Bank offsets 110% of the carbon impact that remains (after the subtraction of green energy) through best practice projects. These projects both cut carbon emissions, and measurably improve the lives of people in some of the developing world’s poorest communities. Since 2007 the Bank has reduced global CO2 by almost 110,000 tonnes through its carbon offset programme and, at the same time, improved the lives of almost 148,000 people.

Seven years ago we started a local STEM programme called The Red Button Challenge (RBC) – the goal was to engage with senior schools near our office in Chandlers Ford. After six years as a local programme in 2015 we went national with the Cisco Little BIG Awards, building on our experience with the Red Button Challenge. Working in partnership with STEMNET we created an ‘Internet of Things’ challenge where young people aged 11-14 in schools across the country were invited to design a product or service which connected things together to make a difference in their everyday life. The schools came together in regional finals leading to a National Final at the Cisco Head Office for the top 10 schools. The programme set out to inspire young people about the amazing things technology brings to their lives and how they might be a part of it! The underlying purpose of the Cisco Little BIG Awards and other Cisco STEM programmes is to close the engineering and digital skills gaps within the United Kingdom as the country looks to attract more engineering and digital talent, to ensure the United Kingdom maintains its competitive edge, continues to foster innovation, which ultimately drives economic growth. The Little BIG Awards has provided a powerful link between schools and business by providing students with a valuable insight into what skills businesses are looking for and more importantly how those skills are used in the real world!

Our innovative suite of educational programmes delivers STEM based projects in an unexpected way – in essence, not only to capture students who are already considering  careers involving STEM but also importantly, those who wouldn’t normally consider taking STEM related subjects. We want to change their perceptions and entice students into a world of exciting new opportunities and careers.

Water Explorer is a fun, web-based educational programme that inspires 8-14 year olds to learn about water issues and develop the confidence to act on them. Delivered in 11 countries, students work together to save their virtual reservoirs by completing a series of innovative Challenges organised into four themes: · Fresher Water · Precious Water · Secret Water · Global Water. Water Explorer has already inspired 79,000 children to complete a Challenge and saved over 1.3 million cubic metres of water. Through links to international research, it also aims to strengthen and track the changes in intrinsic values such as care for the environment.

Sky Academy uses the power of TV, creativity and sport to help young people build practical skills, experience and confidence to unlock their potential. Launched in 2013, Sky Academy aims to give this crucial support to one million young people by 2020. One of the five Sky Academy initiatives is Sky Academy Skills Studios, a free, interactive experience giving 8 to 18-year-olds the chance to go behind the scenes and use the latest technology to write, produce and direct their own TV report on topics they are studying at school. Skills Studios provides practical support for young people to develop specific life skills, ensuring they are better equipped for their futures and able to access more opportunities in careers.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) works alongside specialist charities and social enterprises as part of IT Futures, TCS’ programme aims to once again personalise the creation of technology, showing young students that they can help to create the digital worlds they inhabit. Since the programme’s inception in 2013 we have reached in excess of 51,000 young people across the UK&I. IT Futures engages students at critical stages in education, whilst raising awareness of the importance of IT amongst parents as well as strengthening the ability of educators to deliver effective digital learning and careers advice.

UBS’s flagship education partner is The Bridge Academy – a secondary school UBS helped found in 2003, building on its established support of education in Hackney. The partnership is unique in its scale, sustainability and impact. From 2003, up until the end of 2015, over 4,500 UBS employees had contributed nearly 50,000 hours of volunteer time to Bridge activities.

Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank (PSWDB) is one of the largest and longest running education projects in the UK. A ten-year partnership between Deutsche Bank’s Born to Be youth engagement programme and Globe Education, it offers every state secondary school student in London and Birmingham free tickets to see a Shakespeare performance at the Globe Theatre. The project also provides workshops for students, CPD for teachers and online resources to support GCSE and A-Level curricula. Specifically designed to resonate with young people, PSWDB brings characters, motivation and language to life through performance; raising aspirations, improving academic achievement and encouraging social mobility.

Launched in 2010, Future Proof is Dentsu Aegis Network’s 5 year sustainability strategy, focused on unlocking the power of advertising, communications, marketing and media to strengthen grassroots organisations around the world. The main ambition of Future Proof has been to strengthen civil society globally. Over the past 5 years we supported over 2,000 SME charities, to increase the reach and impact of their work through innovative and scalable digital solutions, donating over £90m in time and money. We also future proofed our business through our community investments, developing our people’s skills and expertise.

Launched in 2010, Future Proof is Dentsu Aegis Network’s 5 year sustainability strategy, focused on unlocking the power of advertising, communications, marketing and media to strengthen grassroots organisations around the world. The main ambition of Future Proof has been to strengthen civil society globally. Over the past 5 years we supported over 2,000 SME charities, to increase the reach and impact of their work through innovative and scalable digital solutions, donating over £90m in time and money. We also future proofed our business through our community investments, developing our people’s skills and expertise.

JLR’s ambitious Global CSR Market Fund seeks to help 5m people around the world by 2020. To date, it has supported 40 projects in >25 countries, benefitting 2.9 million people (over 80 individuals for every JLR employee). The Fund actively encourages innovation by using local knowledge that exists in its 160 global markets to inform its activity­ whilst retaining a supportive centralised governance structure. Furthermore, CSR projects align with one of three distinct areas that are directly relevant to JLR’s sector and make the most of the unique contribution and skills that JLR employees offer: education and talent, well­being and health, and design and technology for social good.

Primark has been working hard to ensure its clothes are made with respect for workers’ rights and the environment. While Primark buys no cotton direct from producers, its long-term ambition is to ensure all the cotton in its supply chain is sourced sustainably. In 2013 Primark used its relationships to bring together agricultural experts, CottonConnect, and the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) to create ‘Primark’s Sustainable Cotton Programme’, a unique three year partnership that trained 1,251 female smallholder farmers in India through classroom sessions, in-field training and learning groups. The programme has helped farmers produce more environmentally sustainable cotton, increase cotton quality and ultimately improve their livelihoods.

Sky Rainforest Rescue, Sky and WWF’s six-year partnership from 2009 to 2015, helped save one billion trees in the Amazon rainforest, avoiding over 3.7 million tonnes of carbon emissions. The project was part of Sky’s wider work to help tackle climate change through addressing the global issue of deforestation and inspiring customers to take action.

Over £9 million was raised and invested into the conservation project and Sky, WWF, the government in Acre, Brazil, and the local community worked together to: identify market opportunities that made the trees worth more standing than cut down; and embed sustainable farming practices so the local community can protect their forests long-term. We also brought the important global issue of deforestation to life in the UK and Ireland in innovative and creative ways; including programming, social media, and interactive experiences.

Social Enterprise (SE) Assist is a pioneering community development scheme, developed in partnership between Charities Aid Foundation and Legal & General. SE-Assist supports job creation, economic growth and regeneration in regional and/or city-based economies through creating a vehicle to support social enterprises to build business capacity, resilience and business acumen through access to interest-free loans, mentoring and business networks. Having been piloted in Brighton in 2013, the fund has now opened for its 6th round, and has spread across West Sussex, and to Croydon and Wales.

Carillion are working jointly with Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust to create and implement a high-impact community project, delivering on needs identified before the new Hospital’s construction and maintenance contract began. Benefits include job and skills creation for Liverpool residents, specifically targeting deprivation, community organisations, young people and employment for disadvantaged people. The initiative has met early targets and has already created far-reaching community benefits, hiring locally and sourcing from local suppliers, as well as funding and volunteering with schools and community groups. This is regenerating the community, whilst also making Liverpool a healthier place to live.

DBS Heart’s mission to connect businesses with the communities they serve brings charitable causes and business ventures together across the East and West Midlands. The culmination of an enduring culture of social responsibility in the firm, DBS Heart has become a force for social change across the region, supporting the development of local charities, championing business and non-profit networking, and addressing the key challenges of community-corporate relationships in an increasingly networked world.

This Campaign was a 5 month social experiment which tested innovative ways of preventing litter on Villiers Street in Central London, using current best thinking on behaviour change and awareness raising from around the world. The project combined a series of creative and innovative initiatives including a photo gallery of local people (My Street is Your Street), chewing gum artwork (Peppermint Pointillism), noisemaking bins (Talking Rubbish), a voting bin (Ballot Bin), street actors (The Naked Bin Men) and campaigns specifically targeting chewing gum and cigarette butts.

Aircraft noise is a recurring community concern. Taking 5 years from design to introduction, Stansted has demonstrated a pioneering approach to noise, showing how ‘performance navigation technologies’, using satellite navigation, can dramatically reduce the number of people impacted by noise. The closer and more accurately an aircraft flies to its designated flight path, the fewer people it flies over and exposes to noise. This technology is currently untested in the UK. In partnership with local communities and airlines, Stansted developed a trial to explore this solution. The results represent an impressive 84% reduction in local people overflown by our aircraft.

The Park Champion volunteer programme, delivered by Our Parklife CIC on behalf of the London Legacy Development Corporation, enables people to participate in the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Volunteers are involved in supporting customer and mobility services, events on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and in its venues, conservation and gardening activities, school visits, career workshops and more. The programme promotes best practice volunteering and provides opportunities to learn new skills, build confidence, develop social networks and well-being; as well as empower a wide and diverse group of visitors to get the most from the Park.

Following the decentralisation of DWP Crisis loans in April 2013 to councils, Surrey’s LAS Project was initiated.

We were:

• FIRST to provide assistance to vulnerable customers with no obligation to repay the funding
• FIRST to open the social fund to ALL residents, not just those receiving social benefits, providing help almost instantly
• Turned customer opinion from: “the incompetent evil unjust government made me wait four and half months…” to: “…we would be in the gutter if not for (your) scheme.”

We became a beacon of hope for Surrey Residents. EVERYTHING THEY NEEDED US TO BE, WE WERE.

Making an impact in the communities in which we trade is a vital pillar of our co-operative values, and we are always striving to work towards creating a better, fairer world, enhancing the lives of our colleagues, members, customers and the communities we serve. We’ve developed our ‘Regional Communities’ strategy to ensure we’re making relevant impacts in these diverse community locations, as we recognise that each of the areas we serve require different kinds of support. The programme, which launched in 2014, identified 20 key areas in which we trade. Each Regional Community then forged a partnership between our colleagues, members and customers to come together to fundraise, collect, donate and volunteer in their local area.

In April 2013, Halfords, the UK’s leading retailer for cycling and leisure products and Re~Cycle, the UK based charity transforming lives through bicycle re-use, agreed a long-term partnership. Mutual benefits of the partnership include:

For Halfords:

• Opportunities for customers to give unused bikes a sustainable end of life solution.
• Promotion of Halfords as the brand of choice when purchasing a new bike
• Helps store colleagues connect with communities
• Provides team building opportunities for Halfords colleagues

For Re~Cycle:

• Increases Re~Cycle’s reach
• Raises funds to send bikes to Africa
• Raises Re~Cycle’s profile and leverages further support For the Community
• Diverts unwanted bikes from landfill/disuse
• Transforms the lives of people and communities in Africa
• Encourages re-use.

‘Get into Airports’ is a four week programme delivered by London Luton Airport (LLA) in partnership with The Prince’s Trust, which provides qualifications, training and experience of working in a variety of roles at the airport to local unemployed young people aged 18-25. The aim is that they will secure employment as a result of participation in the scheme, either directly with LLA or with on-site employers. Those unable to secure employment will receive support from The Prince’s Trust for the following six months to find employment.

Sporteducate is a 3.5 year pioneering sport-for-development project in partnership between Deutsche Bank’s Born to Be youth engagement programme and the charity Sported. 33 community sport clubs across London benefit from funding, training, and management and volunteer support to run educational, employability and mentoring activities alongside their core sports offering. The programme aims to improve the life chances of young people from some of the capital’s most deprived areas.

Sporteducate aims to improve young people’s:

Attitudes to learning;

Attendance at school, college, training or work;

Academic achievement;

Aspirations for the future;

Aptitude and employment.

UBS’s flagship education partner is The Bridge Academy – a secondary school UBS helped found in 2003, building on its established support of education in Hackney. The partnership is unique in its scale, sustainability and impact. From 2003, up until the end of 2015, over 4,500 UBS employees had contributed nearly 50,000 hours of volunteer time to Bridge activities.

Vision Express pledged to partner with the Stroke Association to raise the awareness of visual problems that occur in up to 60% of stroke survivors. Stroke can be devastating, and many stroke survivors who are recovering from one of the most frightening experiences of their lives face the additional challenge of visual impairment. Launching on World Stroke Day in October 2015, Vision Express also committed to holding 70 events in stores nationwide over 12 months to October 2016, with Stroke Association representatives joining store teams for a day, offering the public free blood pressure checks.

Brand Addition took the decision to invest in the working environment of our Manchester office, which is our largest site. The aim was to create an inspirational and healthy working environment for our employees. Our planning and implementation, also took the wider environment into consideration. This helps our team work more effectively and communicates Brand Addition’s values to employees and visitors alike. The social element was a big consideration too, we all benefit from employees who enjoy spending time with us. “The Park” is a fantastic space which encourages people to come together, interact, enjoy lunch and play a friendly game of pool!

Enjoy-Work is a property management company based at Chiswick Park. We take a unique approach to facilities management by offering services focused on employee engagement. We aim to increase productivity and enable our 50 multinational Guest companies. Chiswick Park was created with workplace innovation at its core. Enjoy-Work, is not simply the name of the estate management team, it is a philosophy which puts people at the heart of this community. Our innovative business model has been based on the idea that if people enjoy work they will be more productive, thus benefiting companies and the community.

By inspiring participation across the Belazu employee base through creative communications to do more with less, our ‘Ready, Stead, Green!’ campaign has transformed our approach to waste, delivering outstanding results. Whilst maintaining zero waste-to-landfill as a baseline, our objective is on actual waste reduction and reuse opportunities through improved efficiencies and changing our standard system and process. We understand that staff would make or break efforts, so to successfully deliver the Zero Waste strategy, it was imperative to attain the buy-in and enthusiasm from our internal stakeholders, with everyone owning a part to play. This strategy has been key in delivering both commercial benefits and non-financial KPIs including social impact within our immediate community.

The Zero Emissions Network (ZEN) is an innovative business liaison and behaviour change project with a modular format tackling air pollution in London’s Cityfringe area, managed jointly by the London Boroughs of Hackney, Islington and Tower Hamlets. ZEN is primarily concerned with reducing nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter and all project elements are designed to focus on these pollutants. The project has exceeded targets for the number of businesses recruited (currently 43% above June 2016 target) and pollution reducing measures undertaken; in turn reducing their environmental footprint, saving money, and improving air quality for all.

Warburtons School Visitor Programme is an ambitious initiative that enriches food education for school children aged 5-11 across the United Kingdom. In the last academic year, the project engaged with 28,618 children, teaching them the importance of a balanced diet, hygiene and safety, food waste, and basic food preparation in an enjoyable and creative way. Behind the scheme is a passionate belief that a responsible family food business should make a positive contribution to families’ diets and nutritional education. School Visits are completely free for schools and revolve around a two-hour workshop delivered by a fully-trained School Visitor.

As a responsible retailer we decided in 2014 to take a step further in our commitment to our customers’ health and wellbeing by replacing confectionery products with healthier alternatives at store checkout, a prime point for impulse purchases. Dried fruit, fruit-based bars, and fruit juices are now available for customers who are keen on a quick snack at the checkout. Following a successful 16-week trial in 10 stores where our customers proved that they preferred healthier snacks to sweets, we began a nationwide introduction of Healthier Tills across all UK stores in January 2015.

David believes companies have a moral duty to dismantle barriers in the job market and use their influence to strengthen communities. His zeal and character has transformed Amey Hampshire’s social commitments; David believes that CSR must bolster people’s life chances, not be ‘window dressing’. Many Hampshire staff now view CSR as a core part of our work; in a 2015 survey, 97% said “Amey supports the communities in which it works” – the highest score in the UK for Amey.

Frank was the first person dedicated to sustainability in our company in 2010. At the time we were about 12,000 people and didn’t have a strategy around sustainability. Using his strong stakeholder engagement skills, he developed and implemented Future Proof – our very first sustainability strategy. It is worth noting that he was only 27 at the time and had no prior CSR experience; he learnt everything on the job. He built a centre of excellence around sustainability with his team of internal recruits and also mobilised an entire network of 400+ Future Proof champions, from every division, brand and function in the business, to implement the strategy.

Braiform is amongst the largest garment hanger suppliers in the world, handling billions of hangers each year. In the past, the company was a key player in the initial manufacture of these products, but fifteen years ago the decision was made to sell off all production facilities and commit to a dedicated re-use supply chain. Today, Braiform are the global leader in garment hanger re-use.

Lexmark has embraced the vision of building a circular economy. Our business model demonstrates that the adoption of circular economy principles promotes innovation, job creation and economic growth in an environmentally, sustainable manner. Since 1996, Lexmark has reused over 21,000 metric tonnes of recovered cartridge material by converting millions of used toner cartridges into Lexmark-certified reconditioned toner cartridges, making Lexmark an industry leader in the use of reclaimed plastic in its cartridges with 18% average PCR plastic content. Between 2004 and 2014, Lexmark increased the amount of cartridge materials reused by 400% through Lexmark Cartridge Collection Program and closed-loop processes.

Inspiring those at the ‘sharp’ end of the business to do more with less, our ‘Cultivate’ campaign has transformed our approach to waste. Whilst maintaining zero waste-to-landfill as a baseline, our objective is on actual waste reduction and reuse opportunities through improved efficiencies and changing our standard system and process. Since launch, Melton Foods has seen a 50% reduction in waste on site with over 70% of previously considered waste product going on for further positive reuse to benefit the local community via a network of social enterprises and charities.

Recycling & Re-use Partnership – Warwickshire County Council is the first authority to competitively ‘franchise’ the operation of re-use shops at household waste recycling centres. As well as raising millions of pounds for charity, the initiative is providing a sustainable income stream for the authority and diverting thousands of tonnes of material from landfill. Scaling up the Warwickshire franchise model to the UK’s remaining 1,056 recycling centres would generate an additional £35 million a year for cash-strapped councils. The symbiotic relationship between social enterprises and public recycling facilities demonstrates the circular economy in action – underpinning the triple bottom line of social, environmental and economic benefit.