- Strategic Approach
Our vision is to contribute to the well-being of society at large by enabling responsible economic growth, connecting communities and safeguarding the natural environment. How will we achieve this? Our strategy is supported by our sustainability framework and a set of guiding principles. Policies applied throughout the organization ensure that our guiding principles are followed. Through stakeholder engagement and our own internal processes, we monitor issues and opportunities, and set objectives.
Through a solid governance structure, we actively manage environmental, social and economic performance, as illustrated in our sustainability framework (adjacent). The framework represents the delicate balance that must be maintained between economic growth, social requirements and environmental performance in order to ensure our future well-being. In the absence of only one of these three key elements, the framework (i.e. sustainability) is unbalanced. The fourth component, governance, is in the centre, providing corporate direction and setting company principles and values that guide our business practices. The fifth and final element is communication, represented by the arrows. Communication is an essential part of BCE's approach to corporate responsibility because it is the vehicle that supports the flow of information required to ensure sustainable decision-making.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR SUSTAINABILITY
The following principles support our business strategy and serve as a guide for employees in our quest to achieve our sustainability vision.
- Deliver strong and sustained economic performance that benefits all stakeholders
- Maintain solid governance principles and oversight systems to monitor compliance, while managing our business with transparency and integrity
- Act responsibly and engage with stakeholders to identify opportunities beyond compliance to create benefits for both society and the company
- Develop leading-edge telecommunication services that contribute to sustainability and demonstrate leadership by successfully applying them.
We also support the ten universally accepted principles stated by U.N. Global Compact. These are:
Human Rights
Labour
Environment
Anti-Corruption
POLICIES
The realization of our sustainability vision depends largely on the actions of our directors, officers and employees. Their conduct is governed by an overarching Code of Business Conduct, and a host of policies that support our sustainability principles. Our policies cover subjects such as disclosure of information, auditor independence, political contributions, e-commerce conduct, fair information practices, privacy, environmental protection, procurement, community investments, and others.
More info on Ethics, Conduct and Policies
ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES
In order to realize our sustainability vision, we must continuously monitor issues and opportunities, and respond where appropriate. This is not new for Bell. We have been listening and responding to CR issues since our inception 126 years ago. We believe it is the proactive management of these issues that has allowed us to survive and prosper. And we will continue in this vein to ensure our sustainability.
We monitor CR issues through a variety of formal and informal means including trend analysis, benchmark studies, monitoring of CR performance, and stakeholder feedback. We pay close attention to our numbers and operations, but we also put stock in what people have to say. In 2005, we conducted benchmark studies, focus groups, surveys and interviews with our stakeholders to gain a better understanding of emerging Corporate Responsibility issues and opportunities.
More info on Stakeholder Engagement
The key emerging issues identified by our stakeholders are:
- Potential health impact of electromagnetic fields
- Internet safety
- Safety of cellular phone use while driving
- Disposal of electronic waste.
The telecommunications industry is rich with opportunities. Our products and services contribute to social and environmental improvements and thus contribute to the UN Millennium Development Goals* endorsed by 191 countries including Canada. Our industry contributes by:
- Reducing travel, therefore reducing energy and material requirement, and air emissions;
- Helping with data gathering and diagnostics which lead to a cleaner environment and economy of resources;
- Increasing prosperity and reducing poverty thanks to more efficient communication means;
- Facilitating easier and faster access to medical care which means better services to patients and a healthier population;
- Providing easy access to more information resulting in highly trained teachers and well-equipped students.
*Source: proceedings from the Berlin Global Forum of the United Nations ICT Task Force.
OBJECTIVES AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Armed with solid principles, feedback from our stakeholders, and a clear understanding of our current issues and opportunities, we established Corporate Responsibility objectives in 2005. Each of our objectives has a corresponding indicator for tracking performance. These Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) provide a quantitative measure of how we are doing in the strategic areas of governance, economic, environmental and social responsibility.
Our reporting is also based on the 2002 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Guidelines. This is a multi-stakeholder initiative, which, we believe, provides the most comprehensive and independent insight into the interests and concerns of our stakeholders. Where relevant, we also follow the pilot guidelines in the Global Reporting Initiative Telecommunications Sector Supplement.
