Stagecoach has joined the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), a voluntary sustainability initiative open to diverse businesses worldwide.
On becoming one of 22,117 member companies from 162 countries, the operator is committing to sustainable business practices and will report yearly on its progress towards goals. Among the principles of UNGC is “to align strategies and operations with universal principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and take action that advance societal goals”.
Ray O’Toole, Stagecoach’s Executive Chairman and sponsor of its ‘Sustainability Strategy’, says: “Our Sustainability Strategy is aligned to the most relevant sustainable development goals for our business and helped shape the strategy as it is today.
“ The ten UNGC principles, under the headings of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, provide additional support to these and our own sustainability goals and ambitions and are a fundamental guiding light for all businesses, regardless of size or industry.
“The sustainability challenges we face as Stagecoach are not unique to our business. By joining the UNGC, we demonstrate a commitment to work together on the challenges, collectively identifying solutions, but more importantly, putting those solutions into action. I’m really excited we are the first bus and coach operator in the UK to join the UNGC and hope that other companies follow, as I believe together, we can drive real change.”
Greg Ritt, Head of Sustainability for Stagecoach, adds: “Joining the UN Global Compact will give us the additional tools to go further, faster and engage with key stakeholders both within our organisations and the supply chain.
“An important element for us is the decarbonisation of our business and this will be the case for a sometime, but it’s really important to understand that sustainability is more than carbon reduction.
“Our Sustainability Strategy is our vision to help create a greener, smarter, safer, healthier and fairer country by leveraging our power to connect communities sustainably and achieve our collective economic, social and environmental objectives. Joining the UNGC supports our sustainability journey holistically, embeds confidence in that we know we are heading in the right direction and, hopefully, encourages other companies to do the same.”
