The competition was now arranged for the ninth time. In addition to the entries, all companies on the main list of the Helsinki Exchanges and the biggest unlisted Finnish companies were evaluated. The competition was arranged by Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of the Environment, the Finnish Institute of Authorised Public Accountants, LTT Research Ltd (LTT), the Economic Information Office, the Association for Environmental Management (YJY) and the Kauppalehti newspaper. The award was presented on Tuesday by Minister of the Environment Jan-Erik Enestam in Otaniemi, Espoo.
The jury evaluated the level of overall reporting in a total of 156 organisations. This year a record number of 61 separate environmental and corporate responsibility reports were evaluated, compared with 12 reports in 1996 when the comparisons started. An increasing number of the separate reports were prepared in compliance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. Kesko adopted the guidelines in 2000, the year they were published.
Besides the separate corporate responsibility report, the evaluation of overall reporting paid attention to the Internet pages and the annual report. Kesko's reporting for 2003 included more information than before on the key indicators of environmental and social responsibility of its foreign subsidiaries. In Finland, Kesko has also compiled statistics on the breakdown of economic benefits it has produced by region.
Kesko's corporate responsibility report can also be read in full at www.kesko.fi/responsibility.
Further information:
Jouko Kuisma, Senior Advisor, Corporate Responsibility, tel. +358 1053 23140, +358 50 5143 043.