MAY 2018

The Co-op Way to sustainability
The Co-op Group has released its annual review of
ethics and sustainability for 2017, which includes
fair tax, the environment and responsible sourcing.
It says it issued the review alongside its annual
report “so our members can see the full picture of
our financial and ethical performance”.
#TheCoopWay Report 2017 says the Group
invested £29.7m in communities in the UK and
abroad; reduced greenhouse gases and was
recognised as the no.1 UK campaigning business for
its work on modern slavery and tackling loneliness.
It also made 71% of Co-op-branded product
packaging easy to recycle, became the first UK
retailer to sell and use only Fairtrade cocoa in ownbrand
products, and is the only major retailer to
offer 100% British fresh meat.
The Group has held the Fair Tax mark since 2015,
and has raised over £8m from sales of its bottled
water to fund water projects in partnership with The
One Foundation over 11 years.
The report also includes three case studies to
examine the Group’s wider social impact. They
look at the Group-funded clean water projects in
Malawi; its apprenticeship programme; and the
Local Community Fund.
Member-nominated director Paul Chandler
said the report “provides evidence of our moving
back into a true leadership position on ethics and
sustainability” after the Group lost ground with the
crisis of 2013.
He added: “We’re going to continue to evolve
methodologies and extend impact measurement
across other activities, and as part of this will need
to do more to recognise negative impacts that our
business inevitably brings as well as the positives.”
But he warned: “Not everything is moving in our
intended direction. There are some areas where
we’ve not achieved what we might have hoped –
and it’s right that in our report we’re transparent
about this.”
These areas of concern, he said, are:
u The volume of food surplus redistributed has
gone down slightly.
u Absence rates, colleague turnover and
perceptions of respect at work “aren’t where they
should be.” Mr Chandler said efforts to improve
pay, promote diversity and inclusion, and support
colleague wellbeing should improve this.
u Trade with other co-operatives is still a small
percentage of total turnover, other than the good
growth in wholesale sales to independent co-ops.
Mr Chandler said: “The figure in the report is
almost certainly understated because it’s quite
hard to define and monitor. It would be great to
see us thinking more about how we can get better
measures of what we do in this area... We now need
to articulate clearer and longer-term priorities and
sustainability targets on which we can really focus.”
p The report includes a
case study on the Group’s
funding of clean water
projects in Malawi
u Find the report online
at s.coop/26co9
Alliance’s guide to good reporting
The International Co-operative
Alliance has published its updated
Sustainability Reporting for
Co-operatives: A Guidebook.
The guide builds on the Alliance’s
Sustainability Scan and Co-operative
Growth for the 21st Century reports.
It also includes feedback from
primary co-ops around the world
from its Sustainability Advisory
Group, and is aimed at co-ops that
are new to reporting on co-operative
sustainability, as well as those
looking to take their reporting one
step further.
While a number of co-ops have led
in the development and deployment
of sustainability reporting, in general
co-operatives lag behind, as was
found when the top 50 of the largest
300 co-operatives were compared to
the top 50 Fortune 500 IOCs.
“The Co-operative Values and
Principles codify a particular concept
of community wealth and prosperity
– one that has recognised economic,
social, and environmental criteria in
symbiosis long before the coining
of ‘the triple-bottom-line’,” says the
guide. “It is a story that needs to be
told and sustainability reporting can
contribute to telling that story.”
u Find the report at s.coop/26co8
MAY 2018 | 33