Heathrow in top 10 alongside the best in the corporate world for responsible business

Heathrow’s commitment to responsible business has been recognised in Business in the Community’s annual benchmarking, the Corporate Responsibility Index (CR Index). It is the only airport and transport service business to be included in the top 10, achieving four stars out of five, with just one business receiving the next level of four and a half stars. The CR Index provides businesses with insight into how they are driving responsible business practice that will help secure a sustainable future. The 2014 CR Index results, announced at Responsible Business Week, provided the most challenging set of questions since its launch in 2002. The findings indicate that real the progress is being made by Heathrow and other UK companies to integrate responsible behaviour into their business. Heathrow was awarded four stars for its management and performance of key material CR issues, developing specific and measurable targets and ensuring these are delivered in the best possible way. This includes a health and safety engagement programme which has led to reduced passenger and staff injuries in the past year and the Heathrow Academy which has been successful in supporting local people into jobs for ten years. Heathrow also demonstrated 3 years of performance improvement for environmental and social impact areas; reducing the impact of waste, water and carbon emissions from the airport while providing valuable habitats for protected wildlife and important community facilities, which also contributed to the achievement. Heathrow received the ‘Platinum Big Tick’ from Business in the Community last year, which meant it could maintain this title for a year, but instead the UK’s only hub airport chose to re-enter this year to take on the new challenging questions to receive regular independent feedback on how to improve year on year. Matt Gorman, Heathrow’s Sustainability Director, says: ‘We’re delighted to receive this accolade for our commitment to operating in an environmentally and socially responsible way. We have set ourselves stretching targets as a company to be achieved by 2020 and are committed to continuously improving our performance year on year.’ Heathrow has recently won its sixth Biodiversity Benchmark award in a row, as well as a Sustainability Leaders Award for the new Terminal 2. Heathrow was also named ‘Champion of Champions’, winning four International Green Apple Awards for Environmental Best Practice and Sustainable Development late last year. These awards reflect Heathrow’s continued commitment to enhancing the local, regional and national economic and social benefits of the airport. Heathrow press release: Heathrow in top 10 alongside the best in the corporate world for responsible business.