Today, Intel was honored in a ceremony at the London Stock Exchange – one of four companies recognized by FTSE4Good with the newly created awards named in honor of the late Sir Mervyn Pedelty, former Chief Executive of the Co-operative Bank, and former Chair of the FTSE4Good Policy Committee. The awards were designed to recognize companies who set themselves apart through a clear demonstration of integrating environmental and social performance into corporate strategy, setting ambitious goals and measuring their progress against them.
Intel has been included in the FTSE4Good Index since its inception and is the current technology supersector leader in the FTSE4Good ESG Ratings. This new Highly Commended award from FTSE4Good is especially meaningful to us given its emphasis on CSR governance, integration and performance – things we have prioritized and invested in at Intel in recent years.
Governance. We have worked to embed a focus on responsible business practices and a strategic focus on sustainability into our corporate vision and strategy and into governance structures at multiple levels of the organization, from the board level, to our executive management team, to front line employees. For example, since 2003, the Board’s Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee has had formal responsibility for reviewing and reporting to the Board on corporate responsibility and sustainability issues at Intel. Since 2008, we have also linked a portion of every employee’s variable compensation—from front-line employees to our CEO—to the achievement of environmental sustainability metrics.
Integration. For CSR to effectively create business and shared value, it is necessary to integrate it into decision-making and key business functions – from supply chain to IT to finance – rather than treat as a stand alone issue. For example, over the past five years, we have taken steps to integrate environmental, social and governance requirements into our supplier selection, evaluation and management processes, including integration of metrics into our supplier scorecards, awards and contracts. Our supply chain organization has also taken steps to address system level challenges across the global electronics supply chain, including the issue of conflict minerals in the supply chain.
Performance. For more than a decade, we have set public CSR goals and published detailed performance data on our progress in our annual corporate responsibility report. Over the past decade, we have achieved reductions in key environmental impacts while nearly doubling our manufacturing output. For example, by the end of 2011, we had reduced absolute GHG emissions 60% below 2007 levels. In 2011, we also reached our goal of training over 10 million teachers in more than 70 countries through the Intel® Teach program. Earlier this year, we released our new 2020 environmental goals to continue to drive improvements in our performance in the coming years.
In recent years, we have seen more and more companies view CSR not just as something nice to do and being about philanthropy, but instead as a management approach to better manage risks and opportunities. We have also seen companies recognize that it is not enough to just focus on CSR issues in isolation, but to address system-level issues by working with their supply chains, NGOs, and governments. From working with CSR Europe on sustainability standards, to working with the EICC on supply chain responsibility, to working on the concept of measuring shared value with FSG, and to working with 10x10 to address the critical importance of girls education to economic growth, we are focusing on leveraging the full assets of our company to help address some of the most pressing issues of our time.
We are very honored by this recognition from FTSE4Good– and I know that personally it will serve as a motivation to continue to our work in 2013 to integrate and embed CSR to help create value for Intel as well as our stockholders, customers, and society.
Suzanne Fallender is Intel’s Director of Corporate Responsibility. In this role, she collaborates with key stakeholders across the company to integrate corporate responsibility concepts into company strategies, policies, public reporting, and stakeholder engagement activities to advance Intel’s corporate responsibility leadership and create positive social impact and business value. Suzanne leads a team of experienced professionals who engage with internal and external groups to review Intel’s corporate responsibility performance and to identify new opportunities to apply Intel’s technology and expertise to address social and environmental challenges. The team also works closely with Intel’s investor relations and corporate governance groups to drive an integrated outreach strategy with investors on governance and corporate responsibility issues. Suzanne has more than 20 years of experience in the field of corporate responsibility and socially responsible investment. During her time at Intel, Suzanne has held a number of corporate responsibility-related roles, including leading programs empowering girls and women through technology. Prior to Intel, Suzanne served as Vice President at Institutional Shareholder Services where she managed the firm’s socially responsible investing division. Suzanne holds an M.B.A. from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and a B.A. from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. She has served on a number of leading industry advisory boards and committees on sustainability and corporate responsibility over the past decade and currently is a member of the Net Impact Board of Directors. Follow Suzanne on Twitter at @sfallender.