Sustainability and Responsibility
Aalborg Forsyning’s mission – “We create security and sustainability – also for future generations” – and our shared values – trust, respect, professionalism, collaboration, and development – permeate our efforts towards sustainable development and guide our actions when faced with dilemmas. We consider the opportunities and risks associated with social, environmental, and economic sustainability in our policies, procedures, strategies, and business operations.
We act responsibly in all matters and focus on sustainable and responsible business behaviour. We comply with applicable legislation, regardless of where we operate. We promote and deliver services and solutions that contribute positively to sustainable development and actively work to prevent or mitigate negative impacts on social, environmental, and economic sustainability.
We acknowledge our responsibility to respect internationally recognised human rights and exercise responsible business conduct in accordance with internationally recognised principles of social, environmental, and economic sustainability. These principles are operationalised in the international minimum standard (the “Standard”) for responsible business conduct, based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in relation to human rights and social sustainability, and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct (OECDGs) in relation to environmental and economic sustainability.
Due Diligence for Sustainability
We exercise sustainability due diligence by regularly assessing risks of adverse impacts in the following areas:
- The International Bill of Human Rights, as set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work as defined in the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
- Internationally recognised principles of environmental sustainability, including those reflected in the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation, and the EU Taxonomy Regulation (2020/852) for facilitating sustainable investments. Aalborg Forsyning supports the precautionary principle in relation to environmental challenges and promotes greater environmental responsibility as well as environmentally friendly solutions and technologies, as described in the UN Global Compact.
- The United Nations Convention against Corruption and the OECD Guidelines concerning extortion, fraud, fair competition, and tax compliance.
We implement the necessary processes within our organisation in accordance with the Standard, enabling us to prevent or mitigate, and account for, adverse impacts on all topics related to social, environmental, and economic sustainability where we may cause or contribute to such impacts. We seek to remedy existing adverse impacts through effective dialogue and grievance mechanisms. We encourage employees, business partners, and other stakeholders to inform us of any challenges related to sustainability topics with which we may be associated.
Business Relationships
We value our network of business relationships and hold our business partners to the same standards of responsibility that we apply to ourselves. We acknowledge our responsibility for adverse impacts on sustainability to which we may be linked through our business relationships.
In our Code of Conduct for Business Relations, we require our partners to demonstrate responsible business conduct by implementing the Standard and thereby preventing, mitigating, or remediating adverse impacts on social, environmental, and economic sustainability.
We expect our business relations to impose similar requirements on their own relations, ensuring responsible business conduct in accordance with the Standard. We engage in dialogue with our partners regarding any significant adverse impacts that may arise and, where necessary, exercise our leverage to address them.
Employees
We value our leaders and employees and recognise their essential role in fulfilling our mission and upholding responsible business conduct. We expect all leaders and employees at Aalborg Forsyning to contribute to the implementation of our CSR-policy by: 1) Promoting the expectation of responsible conduct, 2) Reporting to management any actual or potential adverse impacts they become aware of in relation to Aalborg Forsyning’s activities or those of our business relations, 3) Participating in the prevention and mitigation of adverse impacts, and 4) Supporting efforts to influence business relations to prevent and address adverse impacts.
Communication
Our CSR policy is publicly available and communicated both internally and externally. Each year, we report on our compliance with the CSR policy, including any significant adverse impacts and how we have addressed them, as part of our public reporting. Where necessary, we revise our policies and processes to ensure continuous improvement.