Kesko awarded for Finland's best sustainability report
KESKO CORPORATION PRESS RELEASE 06.11.2013 AT 17.00 1(2)
Kesko's Corporate Responsibility Report 2012 was chosen as Finland's best in this year's Sustainability Reporting Award Finland Competition. Kesko's report was ranked the best also by the media and non-governmental organisations.
According to the jury, Kesko has reported exceptionally well on its social and economic responsibility and distinguishes with, for example, the description of supply chains management, product responsibility, anti-corruption actions and principles.
The winner was selected by the group of competition organisers, which included Aalto University School of Economics, the Finnish Institute of Authorised Public Accountants, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, the Association for Environmental Management, the Ministry of the Environment and Corporate Responsibility Network FIBS.
- In describing the company's stakeholder impact and social and environmental footprint, the significance of a listed company's corporate responsibility report equals, if not surpasses, the annual report. Assured indicators and descriptions in a corporate responsibility report provide a more comprehensive picture of the company's operations and sustainable development than the traditional income statement and balance sheet, says Matti Halmesmäki, Kesko's President and CEO.
Kesko has received a total of 16 awards in the Sustainability Reporting Award Finland Competition launched in 1996.
Kesko's report was the media's and NGOs' favourite
The Sustainability Reporting Award Finland Competition includes the Reader's Choice Award category, in which the media, non-governmental organisations, students and investors choose the best report based on their own criteria.
The media and non-governmental organisations selected Kesko's report as the best. This year, the media's choice was made by the Talouselämä magazine.
-For the media, it is essential that the company reports all that is material and presents it in a manner that makes the information easy to find. The result is better if irrelevant information is left out, says Reijo Ruokanen, the Talouselämä Editor-in-Chief.
VATES Foundation, the organisation making NGOs' choice for the winner, appreciates reporting on the diversity of working life and the K-Group's work in employing people with disabilities.
-Kesko's report presents excellent development and operating models which, while promoting the wellbeing of the whole working community, also help disabled people in getting jobs and contribute to the working capacity of partially disabled people, says Marjatta Varanka, Managing Director of VATES Foundation.
More detailed information on the evaluation criteria of the 2013 competition, presenters of the awards and selection criteria are available in the summary report on FIBS' website at www.fibsry.fi. Kesko's Responsibility Report 2012 can be read or ordered at http://www.kesko.fi/en/Responsibility/
Further information is available from Matti Kalervo, Kesko's Vice President for Corporate Responsibility, telephone +358 105 322 536 and Corporate Responsibility Advisor Satu Kuoppamäki, telephone +358 105 322 649.
Kesko (www.kesko.fi) is one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World. We are a retail specialist whose chains have about 2,000 stores in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Russia, and Belarus. Our stores offer quality to the daily lives of consumers.
