Management policies, systems and processes for sustainability

Sustainable development policies

To make sustainability a reality, we need to consider the environmental, safety, health, economic and social implications of every decision we make. Our sustainable development policy outlines our overall strategy and is supported by our sector policies, which identify seven key sustainability aspects:

1. Sustainable forestry
2. Environmental performance
3. Climate change minimisation
4. Product stewardship
5. Corporate citizenship
6. Global employment
7. Safety and occupational health

All seven sector policies apply across all of the operations we own and manage. We invest in training, education, consultation, auditing and other resources to ensure that they are widely understood and implemented. The DLC sustainable development committee reviewed our sector policies in January 2010, confirming that they are still relevant and cover all necessary areas.

In terms of our five-year sustainability commitments of 2005, all our operations were tasked with compliance with these commitments by 2010.

Sustainable development management system

Our Sustainable Development Management System (SDMS) provides a robust and comprehensive mechanism for ensuring effective sustainability governance and implementing our sustainable development sector policies. Our SDMS is owned at Group level and applies to:

• facilities and activities that we own and operate (including those in which we hold a controlling interest);
• new developments, mergers, acquisitions and businesses that we plan to invest in; and
• activities undertaken by contractors on Mondi sites or while under our management.

Our SDMS (illustrated below) is implemented in different ways across the Mondi Group, depending on the nature and level of risks faced in each of our operations.

It comprises:

• the sustainable development policy and seven sector policies;
• the sustainable development governance standard, which links our management standards to our corporate governance structure;
• nine management standards, defining our governance requirements and providing a basis for the development, enhancement and application of our sustainable development principles;
• 10 operating standards, defining minimum requirements for good operational management and control across all of our policy areas and providing guidance about the implementation of the SDMS at Group, divisional and operational level;
• comprehensive performance requirements setting out practices for implementation of the SDMS; and
• our quantifiable short-, medium- and long-term sustainable development commitments.

We have continued to meet a number of voluntary external standards and performance commitments through our SDMS.

External standards and commitments We continue to meet the requirements of the following external standards and commitments: BS 8900:2006: Guidance for Managing Sustainable Development ISO 14001: Specification for Environmental Management System OHSAS 18001: Occupational Health and Safety Management System OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises Principles and Criteria for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC™) SA 8000:2001: Social Accountability Sustainable Forest Products Industry Working Group The Forest Dialogue (TFD) UNEP International Declaration on Cleaner Production United Nations Global Compact United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights WBCSD/WRI Greenhouse Gas Protocol World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) We monitor updates and any potential changes to these documents to make sure that we remain compliant.

Reporting system

Our sustainable development reporting and information system, MORIS, closely aligned with our sustainable development commitments, continues to capture sustainable development data globally across our organisation. After having established MORIS as a reliable, robust and useful tool for internal and external reporting, we extended it in 2010 to include a global tool for the calculation of the carbon footprints of our products.

Public commitments

As part of our SDMS, we developed a set of public commitments approved by the DLC executive committee. The commitments take into account public concerns, significant risks and other legal requirements relating to sustainability issues. They cover the full breadth of our sustainable development agenda and demonstrate our commitment to sustainability. The sustainable development leadership panel assesses our progress towards meeting the commitments at its regular meetings. 2010 marked the end year for the first set of our public commitments set in 2005. After an internal review and external assurance of the achievements against these commitments, we will plan the way forward and table our next set of sustainable development issues. We are currently in the process of finalising and approving the future sustainable development plans of the Group along with the commitments for 2015 with the Boards, and will report back on the finalised plan in the next Group report.

External assuror, ERM, provided assurance on the achievement of our 2005 commitments – see the Assurance report.

Role of internal audit

Internal audit functions as a discrete department within the Group, with auditors located at operations across the Group. The function of the internal audit department is to undertake ongoing evaluation of the adequacy and effectiveness of our system of internal control, across all business sites and all business processes, without any restriction. Its work is conducted in accordance with the Professional Standards of the Institute of Internal Auditors.

Internal audit deals with all potential breaches of human rights, corruption, anti-competitive behaviour, labour issues, etc, and is directly responsible for the Speakout programme. Internal audit’s scope of work is also directly linked to our employment/labour performance indicators, and work has begun to extend this scope to cover our other sustainable development indicators across the Group.

Internal audit aims to visit every Mondi operation at least once every five years, with all major plants being visited every year. In 2010, internal audit undertook 84 audit reports.

Engaging with stakeholders

We engage actively with our stakeholders – shareholders, customers, employees and suppliers as well as governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), academic institutions, and regulators and the media in order to understand and respond to their concerns. We appreciate and benefit from this dialogue and endeavour to maintain open and productive relationships. We actively identify issues raised by stakeholders at a national and international level, and ensure that these are addressed.See the section on Engaging with stakeholders.

Associations we support

Our participation in forums, and our support and membership of various associations at a local, regional and international level ensure that we stay in touch with current and proposed developments in the regulatory and commercial environment. Mondi is currently an active supporter, member or participant in:

• The United Nations (UN) Global Compact: during 2008 we became a signatory to the UN Global Compact, reinforcing our commitment to socially responsible business practices on a worldwide basis. We report on our progress against the United Nations Global Compact’s 10 Principles – download the 2010 report.
• The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD): a CEO-led global association of some 200 companies with a shared commitment to sustainable development and the WBCSD Sustainable Forest Products Industry Working Group, a working group currently involving 16 leading global forest products companies, which aims to tackle sustainability issues in our industry.
• High Conservation Value (HCV) Resource Network: a global network of organisations and individuals that support and promote a practical and consistent approach to high conservation value (HCV) methodology and ensure that a consistent approach to HCV is understood and applied throughout the world.
• The Forests Dialogue (TFD): a global multi-stakeholder forum, comprising individuals forest companies, NGOs, communities and other organisations committed to the conservation and sustainable use of forests. A group of international forest, conservation and community leaders oversee the governance of TFD and the planning and execution of dialogues.
• National industry associations: we are members of a number of national industry associations, including the Confederation of European Paper Industries in Europe (CEPI) and Forestry South Africa.
• National and local NGOs: we have productive partnerships with a number of national and local NGOs, including Silver Taiga in Russia and the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA).
• Worldwide Fund for Wildlife (WWF): we have a long-established, valued and constructive relationship with the WWF. This relationship has been further reinforced through the WWF-WESSA-Mondi Wetlands Programme, the global WWF New Generation Plantation Project and the WWF Silver Taiga HCV project in north-west Russia.
• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC™): FSC™ is an independent NGO, established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests.

See also the section on Engaging with stakeholders for further information.

Last change: 15.03.2011