Page 11


WORKING WITH OTHERS

Strategic partnerships and alliances

To support the delivery of our CSR commitments, we continue to work with a wide range of organisations through strategic partnerships and alliances, and support a number of independent campaigns and initiatives. For example, in addressing challenges such as reducing our carbon footprint, we are a member of the UK Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change, which supports national and international frameworks for reducing carbon emissions. We are also a signatory to the British Retail Consortium’s Climate Change Initiative, ‘A Better Retailing Climate’, which includes commitments to reduce energy and resource use, transport emissions, waste and packaging.

The Partnership’s senior executives are personally active in a number of associations covering areas of importance to our business. For example, Charlie Mayfield, the Partnership’s Chairman, is a commissioner for the UK Commission on Employment and Skills (UKCES). The business has also been a member of Business in the Community (BITC) for many years and is actively involved in a number of its workstreams including the Marketplace and Business Action on Economic Renewal leadership teams and the Prince’s Rural Action programme.

A partnership with Forum for the Future

Founded in 1996, Forum for the Future is an independent, non-profit organisation that works with leaders from business and the public sector to create a green, fair and prosperous world. It is a charitable organisation that strives to ensure that everything it does ultimately benefits the public, and shares the results of its work widely.

As a part of the Forum for the Future network, we are committed to playing a leading role in achieving a sustainable future, to re-engineering our operations, and to changing attitudes and behaviour among our customers, suppliers and Partners. Forum for the Future works with us to future-proof our strategy and to inspire and equip our Partners with the skills they need to help play their part in ensuring our organisation is fit for the future.

Since 2007, we have asked Forum for the Future to help us to benchmark our leadership position on issues such as products and services, supplier relations and community impacts, improve our governance arrangements and our environmental performance, assess our indirect transport impacts and co-develop our Responsible Development Framework. In 2010/11, we committed to work with Forum for the Future to continue to push for a longer-term outlook on sustainability throughout the Partnership and to keep stretching boundaries for our CSR activities.

Working with Corporate Citizenship

Corporate Citizenship, which was established in 1997, is one of the world’s leading CSR consultancies. It believes that business can be one of the most effective forces for positive change and helps companies to understand their capabilities and responsibilities, manage their risks and realise their opportunities. It works with the public and private sector, NGOs and international organisations in projects across the spectrum of CSR.

The John Lewis Partnership has been engaged with Corporate Citizenship for eight years in its capacity of manager of the London Benchmarking Group (LBG), working with members to measure the value of their community investment programmes. Broadening our relationship, Corporate Citizenship is now supporting us in our strategic review of the Partnership’s current approach to community investment (see page 21).


(Photo of Dr Sally Uren)

Dr . Sally Uren

Deputy Chief Executive, Forum for the Future

"The ability of the John Lewis Partnership to take a long-term view, along with its unique ownership structure, means that the business has the potential to push its current CSR programme further and faster to deliver a truly sustainable business. The ambition to decouple the growth of the business from its carbon emissions is the first, important step towards this end goal. The challenge is to match the ambition around carbon with other aspects of the current CSR programme. This will ensure that the Partnership delivers sustainability for all the people it touches, both now, and for the next 50 years to come."


(Photo of Amanda Jordan)

Amanda Jordan OBE

Co-Chair, Corporate Citizenship

"We are delighted to be supporting the John Lewis Partnership in its current review of its community strategy. As a company that has a long track record of making a difference to the communities where it operates, it is commendable that it is now taking time to review its engagement and ensure that it maximises the impact of the contributions it makes."