Novo Nordisk singled out for world class sustainability reporting
- November 2002
In a global survey, launched 18 November, Novo Nordisk is one of the 'magnificent seven' companies that in their recent sustainability reports demonstrate leadership in action. The rating, undertaken by the UK consultancy and think tank SustainAbility together with UNEP places Novo Nordisk as number two, just after the Co-operative Bank and ahead of BAA, British Telecom, Rio Tinto, Royal Dutch/Shell, and BP.
The survey scrutinises the world's top 50 corporate sustainability reports and benchmarks according to a detailed scoring system. Its main conclusion - highlighted in the report title - 'Trust us' - is that sustainability reporting holds the potential for companies to rebuild the public's trust in corporations. While this trust has generally eroded, the reports from the seven high-scorers demonstrate the kind of transparency and accountability that is so vocally demanded.
Novo Nordisk's 'Reporting on the Triple Bottom Line' is particularly commended for getting to the heart of the debate about access to medicine. It was also noted that despite the demerger of Novozymes, Novo Nordisk has managed to maintain and even improve its level of reporting since the last benchmark was made in 2000. This is significant, as the overall quality of corporate reporting has not improved.
"We are very proud to have achieved such a high score," says Lise Kingo, Executiove Vice President, Stakeholder Relations. "This is the only global benchmark study, and the level of detail accounts for its reliability. Being at the very forefront among large multinationals puts Novo Nordisk in a position, from which we can get great mileage in our continued work. The survey identifies a trend towards more focus on social responsibility and socio-economics, and both of these are areas where Novo Nordisk has been among the first to explore new grounds. The challenge for us now is to use this as a platform to reinforce our brand value - a critical next step also identified in SustainAbility's new study."
