Consistent with a long-standing legacy in social responsibility that’s articulated in the company’s first global citizenship report, Xerox Corporation is joining The Nature Conservancy in a new partnership to improve management of global forests, the source of raw material for paper.
The announcement of a $1 million grant to the Conservancy from The Xerox Foundation coincides with the release of Xerox’s 2006 Report on Global Citizenship, a comprehensive summary of the company’s citizenship practices and policies, recent accomplishments and goals.
The 70-page report brings together for the first time data on the company’s environmental performance; workplace policies; and corporate, customer and social practices. Called "Revealing Our True Colors," it covers topics including ethics and governance, customer privacy and satisfaction, employee diversity and development, environmental initiatives, philanthropy and volunteerism, and more.
"In a world of necessarily complex and varied metrics, one stands taller than all the rest. Each generation of Xerox people strives to leave the company, the communities in which we do business, and the world at large better than we found it. We all feel that we are part of an ongoing experiment to demonstrate that good business and good values are not only compatible but synergistic," said Anne Mulcahy, Xerox chairman and chief executive officer, in the report’s letter to stakeholders.
As the world’s largest distributor of cut-sheet paper, Xerox respects its responsibility to foster sustainable development by using paper wisely and protecting forest resources. With the $1 million grant and expertise from Xerox, The Nature Conservancy – one of the world’s most respected conservation organizations – will:
- Launch an online forest database for Canada’s boreal forest.
- Strengthen third-party forest certification standards, which Xerox relies on to ensure paper comes from responsibly managed forests.
- Identify best forest biodiversity management practices and communicate them with forest managers, paper suppliers and others.
The goal: far-reaching benefits for Canadian forests and others worldwide. The partnership is in addition to Xerox’s current initiatives that minimize environmental impact, such as developing paper with 100 percent recycled content, designing printers and copiers with duplex printing features, and investing in digital printing and workflow tools that help customers reduce their dependency on paper.
Other initiatives detailed in the report include:
- Xerox’s recent adoption of the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct, which identifies appropriate standards of conduct for companies that do business in the electronics industry. Xerox’s comprehensive ethics and compliance program starts with a Global Code of Conduct for all employees and is integrated into all business operations worldwide.
- Customers’ privacy rights and Xerox’s compliance and activities with global regulations including the European Directive on Data Protection, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act of Canada, and the U.S. Information Protection Act.
- Programs that support sustainable development, such as the "clean tech" research initiative at the company’s Palo Alto Research Center, and innovations in solid ink color printing, which eliminate print cartridges and generate about 90 percent less waste than laser printers.
- Actions Xerox continues to take to nurture a greener world, such as product remanufacturing and recycling, which diverted 107 million pounds of material from landfills in 2005; engineering all eligible Xerox products to meet ENERGY STAR efficiency criteria; and reducing Xerox’s global greenhouse gas emissions 10 percent by 2012 from a 2002 baseline.
- U.S. employee diversity representation and the steps Xerox takes to foster a global culture of inclusion, along with how the company supports employees through benefits and flexible work arrangements. About 6,500 – 20 percent – of Xerox’s U.S. employees now work from "virtual" offices.
- Contributions to the communities where Xerox people work and live through philanthropy, educational programs and employee volunteerism. The report highlights several global examples of Xerox’s community outreach activities including its Social Service Leave program, which grants selected employees up to one year of paid leave to work full-time for a nonprofit agency, and the Vila Olimpica, a program in Brazil for underserved children, giving more than 1,500 children a year the opportunity to learn and play Olympic sports.
Looking ahead, Xerox said it plans to develop a human rights policy in the next year that aligns with the company’s core values, which are the underlying principles of how Xerox runs its business anywhere around the world. And having met the requirements of the European Union’s July 2006 Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive, Xerox now plans to deliver RoHS-compliant products to worldwide markets by the end of 2007.
"Like most things in business, corporate responsibility is a race without a finish line. As good as we may be today, we have to be even better tomorrow – and not by a little, but by a lot," Mulcahy said.
Xerox relied on the Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines to determine the content and performance metrics for its 2006 Report on Global Citizenship. It also consulted with Business for Social Responsibility, a nonprofit that works to advance the field of corporate social responsibility, to help determine the report’s relevance, completeness and responsiveness to stakeholders.
Via: (Xerox Corporation)