Imperial’s International business has just held its third Sustainability Week, in a bid to increase awareness of environmental and social issues, and motivate staff to adopt more sustainable behaviour.

The Sustainability Week forms part of Imperial’s support for the "German Sustainability Action Days", which run until the beginning of October, and which in turn follow the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals set out in its Agenda 2030. These include issues such as health and well-being, affordable and clean energy and climate protection measures.

Introducing a week-long series of daily themed bulletins sent to all staff, which provided thought-provoking insight, advice and tips, with links to online presentations by various speakers, Hakan Bicil, CEO of Imperial’s International business, told staff: “As a Management Board, we are just as concerned as you are that future generations should live in a world that is as intact as possible. This means that we must create the conditions for tomorrow today. The annual Sustainability Week with its many different topics plays a very important role for all of us.”

Due to Imperial’s stringent regime of ongoing staff protection measures related to Covid-19, this year’s event was entirely digital, but nonetheless highly successful. Wrapping up the week’s activities, Bicil said: “Sustainability also embraces streamlined, lean logistics processes, the use of low-emission vehicles, traffic bundling and much more. The idea of sustainability must be incorporated into each of our processes and logistics concepts.

“Our customers expect this, too. They want to incorporate the most sustainable logistics service possible into their own CO2 reporting. That is why Sustainability Week 2020 hits the very core of what we need to focus on in all areas.”

Imperial’s Sustainability Week forms part of its ESG (environment, social and governance) strategy, focusing on people, profit and planet. Imperial considers it to be its duty, as responsible world citizens, to invest in ESG policies and embody them whenever possible in its daily course of business.

In addition to the ongoing support for SOS-Kinderdorf in Keczkemét, Hungary, provided by Imperial’s International business, the company is active in gender equality, the promotion of diversity and strongly supports the social commitment of its employees.