While it is self-evidently “good” that businesses should seek to minimise negative social and environmental impact resulting from their activities (the moral case), such actions can also have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line (the business case).

While the specific benefits will vary from company to company, we consider the following key drivers underpin our commitment to operate responsibly:

The need to create sustainable shareholder value: There is growing evidence that over time companies regarded as responsible generally provide superior financial returns compared with those that are not.

The need to strengthen shareholder confidence: Institutional investors are increasingly taking non-financial issues into account when deciding whether to invest or not in a particular company.

The need to recruit, retain and motivate our workforce: We want to attract and retain the best people. There is good evidence that prospective employees, particularly graduates, seek out and want to work for organisations that are regarded as responsible and ethical businesses.

The need to manage risk: Understanding the importance and potential impact of non-financial risks on our operations, such as climate change, contaminated land and electric and magnetic fields, and putting in place the necessary controls and initiatives to manage them effectively is critically important to our bottom line and our reputation.

The need to protect our reputation and brand: Our brand is very important to us.  Brand recognition and reputation can take decades to build up but can be ruined in minutes through incidents such as corruption scandals, allegations of human rights abuses or serious environmental or safety incidents.

The need for a “license to operate”: Developing and investing in electricity and gas networks can affect the communities the networks they pass through. How we manage our relationships and work together with these communities and other stakeholders is very important to us.

The need to manage costs: We need to manage our costs. Operating responsibly helps to avoid unnecessary costs such as fines for breaches of environmental permits as well as reduce costs in areas such as managing our waste or energy use or lost productivity due to injuries and ill-health.