Jonathon Porrit

The sustainability agenda doesn't get any easier…

The external issues press ever harder, on climate change, health and safety, community engagement and so on; shareholders remain as demanding as ever and not yet entirely persuaded that the so-called business case for sustainable development really delivers the goods - or at least, not enough of them!; and government departments are still slow either to complex or incentivise improved performance in the private sector.

Carillion has worked very hard over the last few years to align its business objectives with all the work going on to improve its social, environmental and safety performance. This Report exemplifies the degree to which an integrated framework has now been developed, and is beginning to deliver real benefits both for the company and all the different stakeholders with whom Carillion engages.

Of particular interest to me, this year has been the emergence of a community engagement strategy. Carillion's "footprint" on people and places is, by definition enormous. Over the years almost on a "suck it and see" basis front-line managers in Carillion have learnt how to reduce the disruptive impacts of the company and put things back into the community in terms of in-kind benefits, sponsorship and so on. All good stuff but inevitably patchy and somewhat low key. Without making more of a priority of this, at a strategic level, it is hard to see exactly what kind of contribution the company's corporate engagement strategy is making to Carillion's overall business case.

This year, that strategy should come into play, rounding out another important element in Carillion's overall sustainable development framework. It sometimes seems slow work, bringing together a framework like this - too slow in the opinion of many activists. But it is serious work when taken seriously - and that's certainly the case with Carillion.