Our Environment
Sodexo recognises its responsibility to the environment and strives to achieve environmental best practice. This is a global, national and local issue for Sodexo. Not only is legislation being strengthened, our clients' requirements for environmental management are also rising.
In a company as diverse as Sodexo, reaching the highest standards of environmental practice is a challenge that we take seriously. We have had an environmental policy for many years, and in 2008 we launched a three-year strategy with the aim of:
- integrating environmental considerations into all business decisions
- implementing an environmental management system to monitor and drive improved performance
- demonstrating long-term cost savings through systematic planning, operational control and ongoing monitoring
- making business divisions responsible for their own impacts through the development and inclusion of environmental strategies within their business plans
- inspiring our people to become involved
To give us a consistent approach to environmental management across the UK and Ireland, the strategy roll-out has involved rigorous, centralised data collection, enabling us to identify the best opportunities for continuous improvement and help our clients reach their own targets.
An environmental improvement programme has been put in place to deliver a comprehensive set of objectives by 2010 (see below), with annual targets in place to provide interim milestones. The programme is helping us address what we consider to be our most significant environmental impacts, such as energy and fuel consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and waste management, enabling us to demonstrate the effects our initiatives have on environmental performance with growing confidence.
Our 2010 objectives are to:
- reduce fuel consumption of site vehicles by 8% below 2006 levels
- reduce electricity consumption by 7% below 2006 levels
- reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 12% by 2010
- recycle, compost or re-use 50% of waste Sodexo is legally responsible for
- develop an environmental learning and development strategy
- review packaging levels with primary distributors
- develop best practice for managing utilities at sites where monitoring is not possible
Our environmental forum
The environmental forum was launched in July 2007. Forum representatives include environmental health and safety (EHS) managers from across the business and individuals from our procurement and learning and development departments. Our corporate citizenship manager is also a member of the corporate citizenship forum to maximise the sharing of ideas and best practice.
The environmental forum meets quarterly to discuss environmental business needs, evaluate new technology and develop policies. It generates action plans and improves the environmental health and safety managers' ability to capture and report data. The meetings provide a central link to executives and ensure that we consult widely across Sodexo on environmental issues.
View the Corporate Environmental Policy Statement for Sodexo UK & Ireland. For more information please view our latest Corporate Citizenship Report.
