The report concerns the 2008 accounting year. Unless otherwise specified, the key figures are as of 31 December and apply to the entire Orkla Group, including companies in the Group. We have sought to present a cross-section of possibilities and challenges within the Group. The report is supplemented by other information that is provided in Orkla's Annual Report, EHS Report and websites. Interested parties are referred to the EHS Report, which provides a more comprehensive picture of the Group's work on environment, health and safety.
Sustainability reports have gradually gained a natural place alongside financial reports, EHS reports and other information that gives shareholders and others valuable insights into the company's state of health. The way information is presented is also gradually being standardised. Orkla welcomes this trend. We have chosen to report according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (G3 Guidelines), one of the most accepted international standards in this area. At the back of the report, you will find a list of indicators that shows which GRI parameters Orkla reports on, and where this information may be found.
We welcome questions and comments on this year's report – see the final pages for contact details.
Orkla and corporate responsibility
Orkla's work on corporate responsibility must be in accordance with our business strategy and concerns how we run our business in relation to our goals and our interfaces with various stakeholders. This is an area where finance, environmental considerations and corporate responsibility intersect. The precautionary and life-cycle principles must permeate both our decisions and our activities, and information about the results of our efforts must be provided in an open, trustworthy manner.
The Group's policy on corporate responsibility commits us to operating a sound, long-term, sustainable business in which responsibility for employees, society and the environment plays a pivotal role.
The various business units affect the environment in many ways and the Group aims to minimise its environmental footprint, among other things by using new technology and working continuously to reduce emissions and energy consumption.
Orkla is an important social actor in many places. Through its activities, it fills an important role for employees, partners, suppliers and local communities. In accordance with the Group's basic values, which underline the importance of involvement, we engage in active dialogue with these groups. Transparency in processes and in the reporting of results helps to promote the trust on which the Group depends for its success.
This does not mean that Orkla either can or will assume responsibility for all the measures suggested by stakeholders, partly because various considerations will often conflict with each other and partly because expectations will change in step with general development. Orkla's task is to work systematically on measures that also accord with our business strategy. The way we work can therefore be as important as the specific targets we set ourselves.
To ensure that Orkla's business practices correspond with the Group's guidelines, each business area is responsible for assessing its impact on society and for allocating sufficient resources and developing measures to ensure that these principles are complied with.
Orkla's Board of Directors and Group Executive Board address relevant topics in this area as and when necessary, but they also carry out an annual, overall review. At Group level, important topics are regularly discussed and followed up in Orkla's Corporate Responsibility Forum, which comprises representatives of the Group Executive Board, various specialist functions and all business areas. In addition to improving the flow of information throughout the Group, the Forum also provides opportunities for discussion and the exchange of experience between business areas. At the same time, it simplifies dialogue with important stakeholders and enables us to meet expectations at the right level.
Orkla's decentralised governance model, which entails a significant degree of local authority, also sets natural guidelines for how we structure our work and reporting on measures and results in this report.
Special challenges in 2008 and 2009
Orkla is no more immune to the effects of the financial crisis than anyone else. Towards the end of 2008 we saw a growing number of adjustments and workforce reductions in several countries. We know that the Group's business areas will face many challenges in 2009. We must be capable of adapting to deal with this situation. In our view, to a great extent, our long-term approach helps ensure that even if it may be necessary to introduce short-term measures that have a rapid impact, there is a high level of awareness of the importance of upholding our long-term goals and the direction in which the Group develops.
Improvement orientation, structural measures and innovation are all components in continuous work on corporate responsibility. Some of these issues become even more important in the light of the crisis. At the same time, the climate challenges have not diminished, they have just been temporarily pushed into the background in the news media. This report also explains how Orkla is meeting these challenges.
We hope that this report will help to clarify both our ambitions and the practical measures that are being implemented in the Group in various areas under the heading of corporate responsibility. We have seen that reporting also helps to clarify the issues internally and encourage discussion in Orkla companies.
We refer to both successes and areas where we need to work harder to achieve our goals. From this point of view, this report helps us to identify areas of responsibility, establish strategies and analyse areas where we can improve.