The EIB's first Corporate Responsibility report represents an important new communication channel with its stakeholders. This integrated report on Corporate Responsibility is an essential tool for gaining a better understanding of the EIB's contribution to sustainable development. The initiative builds on the existing EIB Environmental Report and is enriched by elements of the Bank's corporate governance strategy as well as other developments in transparency, integrity, and ethical and social issues.
Corporate Responsibility is a set of the less-tangible or extra-financial issues covering governance, ethical, environmental and social aspects. For the EIB, Corporate Responsibility emphasises the importance of achieving a balance between economic growth, social well-being and the protection of the environment, whilst supporting the goal of sustainable development.
The EIB Group promotes Corporate Responsibility through its mission and activities at the service of the European Union, as well as its internal management. In order to reach out to society at large, the EIB takes voluntary actions over and above compliance with legal requirements, and consistently adapts its policies, standards and procedures. As a financial institution functioning in a modern economy, the Bank is aware of the potentially major impact of its investment decisions, and the way they may affect the global challenges of our society.
This report aims to describe how the EIB voluntarily integrates Corporate Responsibility concerns into its business operations and its interaction with its stakeholders. It is part of an on-going process of building and improving Corporate Responsibility policies and as such should be read as an element in a continuous cycle of improvement. In compiling this report, the EIB followed relevant best practices and standards and international guidelines, namely the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 2002 Sustainability Reporting guidelines, including the special supplement for financial institutions. Measures reported are based on internal Key Performance, Core and Balanced Scorecard Indicators.
This process implies that a number of difficult issues concerning benchmarking and the expectations of different stakeholders need to be addressed. This represents a clear learning process for the EIB, in which the different stakeholders will be invited to participate in due course.
The EIB aims to make its stakeholders aware of what the Bank does and how it conducts business. In future reports, the information provided about the Bank's strategy, policies and processes will be used as a basis, and will be more focused on business impacts. In this way, this report forms part of a continuum of engagement and trust building that is intended to meet the reasonable expectations of EIB stakeholders in this area.