The view from the top
By Stephen Murphy (group CEO) and Peter Norris (group Chairman)
We have always considered ourselves to be a responsible business, and whilst we have understood the environmental and social pressures of our world, this is the first time we have outlined our thoughts and views on corporate responsibility and sustainable development for the whole Virgin Group.
At Virgin we have always looked for new, innovative ways to do business by offering consumers another way, a better way, and by being willing to fight their corner. We are determined Virgin will prove that living sustainably and responsibly need not be considered difficult or dull. Sustainable living is often portrayed as a life of sacrifice and compromise as opposed to the choice and freedom we currently enjoy. Unsurprisingly people aren’t motivated by this vision. We want our Virgin companies to provide responsibly produced, sustainable, low carbon services and products that are desirable, easy to use and good value above all else so that our customers can enjoy their lifestyles safe in the knowledge that Virgin is acting responsibly on their behalf.
We designed this report (although we feel like it’s more of a story to which we haven’t yet written an ending…) to highlight the enormous range of sustainability issues the Virgin companies face, operating in so many different sectors. Virgin’s products and services span many aspects of life, from mobile phones and financial products to holidays and health clubs. Our challenges and opportunities are consequently just as diverse, but we recognise this gives us the potential to contribute in a meaningful way to a vision of a sustainable lifestyle. We want to use the report to explain how our companies are doing this - addressing their impacts and realising the opportunities – and also to share our vision on responsibility and sustainability along with our plans for the future.
As a member of the Virgin Group, each business is responsible for making its contribution to our vision of sustainability. For some, such as the airlines, the task is far harder and so we recognise that each business will progress at its own pace. However, we expect each Virgin company to fully understand its environmental and social impacts, have the ambition to lessen these impacts and work to exert its influence to lessen the impacts of its sector.
We are proud of what our companies have achieved so far and some initiatives in particular have really set the bar high for sustainable practices within the group. However, we’re also committed to pushing them to go further and be more ambitious with their goals. ‘Business as usual’ is no longer an option - the world simply doesn’t have enough natural resources to maintain current trends of consumption, and the consequences of climate change and environmental degradation are severe. The global issues we face today are enormous and to solve them we all need to work together towards living more sustainably. To support this, we’ve also established a non-profit foundation, Virgin Unite, that works with our businesses, Richard and global partners to drive change and to encourage entrepreneurial approaches to some of the tough challenges the world is facing today.
As a society we need to be prepared for change. Businesses, governments and individuals need to speak the same language and act together to make the right decisions to shape our lives for the future. No single company can solve these problems but if we have the courage to unite, we can find the creative, pragmatic and bold solutions required to meet these challenges head on.
Stephen Murphy
Peter Norris
7
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88