Dublin, 13 December 2018: Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI), WBCSD’s Global Networkpartner in Ireland, held its annual member meeting under the header of “Company as Activist”.
Ronan Murphy, Chairperson of BITCI, kicked off the proceedings in front of some 70 attendees, followed by Tomás Sercovich, CEO of BITCI, who reviewed the year’s activities and shared an outlook on the organization as a catalyst for better business for a better Ireland. Sercovich also engaged in a conversation with WBCSD’s Filippo Veglio, who shared the Council’s views on affecting change through business collaboration.
The ensuing panel discussion with representatives of ABP Food Group, ESB, Marks & Spencer and Smurfit Kappa Group focused on solutions and approaches to help companies achieve the goal of being strong activists for positive change in areas such as the future of work, social inclusion, customer engagement, and a low-carbon economy.
Earlier in the year, BITC Ireland announced a wide-ranging effort of Ireland-based companies signing a low carbon pledge to cut emissions. Furthermore, in line with its efforts to measure, report and communicate its own impacts in line with best practice and beyond compliance with legislation and funder requirements, the organization launched its latest Sustainability Report. Through the report, BITC explains how it identifies its most relevant (material) issues as they impact on its critical stakeholders, and reports on its performance in a number of metrics that convert on KPIs in dimensions such as employee engagement and satisfaction, board diversity, member satisfaction, GHG emissions and waste management.
WBCSD has two member companies headquartered in Ireland: CRH, a global leader in building materials, and Smurfit Kappa, one of the leading providers of paper-based packaging in the world.
