Ethical Investor Magazine's Sustainability Awards
22 December 2004 at 12:12 pm
The 2004 Ethical Investor Sustainability Awards were announced in Sydney recently and recognise outstanding achievement in 2004 in a range of areas of corporate sustainability.
The six company awards this year include: Sustainable Company of the Year, Sustainable Small Company of the Year, plus four merit awards for achievement in the areas of Environment, Community/Social, Labour Relations and Corporate Governance.
Company Award Winners:
Sustainable Company of the Year and Merit Award for Environment, Investa Property Group; Sustainable Small Company of the Year, Gale Pacific; Merit Award for Community/Social, Telecom New Zealand; Merit Award for Labour Relations, Ramsay Health Care; Merit Award for Corporate Governance, St George Bank.
Other Awards for Charities and Ethical Funds:
The Givewell Best Practice Charity Award was also presented to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the inaugural Givewell Best Charity Project Award was given to Deadly Treadlies (an activity of Alice Springs Youth Accommodation and Support Services).
The Ethical Fund of the Year Award was taken out this year by the BT Australian Sustainability Share Fund with an honourable mention going to the Trust van Eyk Ethical Model Strategy.
Nominations of eligible Australian stock exchange listed companies were received from nine sustainability research groups: AMP Capital Investors, Centre for Australian Ethical Research, Innovest Strategic Advisers, Monash Sustainability Enterprises, Sustainable Asset Management, Corporate Governance International, Rodger Spiller & Associates (New Zealand companies), Newcastle Business School and Sustainable Investment Research Institute
These groups were asked not to nominate a company that was also its client.
The nominations were reviewed by an expert judging panel which convened on November 23 to determine the award winners. The five judges were: Cathy Zoi, Executive Director Bayard Capital and member of the SRI consultative committee for AMP; Helga Birgden, Chairman Christian Centre for Socially Responsible Investment; Steve Mullins, Union Services Manager and head of corporate sustainability initiative at the ACTU; Louise O’Halloran, Executive Director of the Ethical Investment Association; and Trevor Thomas, from the financial advisory firm Ethinvest.
The 29 companies nominated for an award this year were: Telecom New Zealand, Simsmetal, Insurance Australia Group, Bendigo Bank, Billabong International, Coles Myer, Gale Pacific, CSR, Investa Property Group, ANZ Banking Group, Origin Energy, CDS Technologies, Timbercorp, Warehouse Group, St George Bank, Solar Energy Systems, Telstra, Adsteam Marine, Crane Group, Ramsay Healthcare, Computershare, David Jones, Brambles, Geodynamics, Westpac Banking Corporation, AGL, Corporate Express, Fisher & Paykell Healthcare and Pacific Hydro.
The keynote speaker for the event was former Federal Environment Minister Hon Ros Kelly, whose Order of Australia granted in Januuary this year recognised her commitment to corporate social responsibility.
In her address Kelly acknowledged the progress being made by business, non-government organisations and the media in the area of corporate sustainability. However she also said that the pace of adjustment was not fast enough and called for more business leaders to show passion to drive the changes that are necessary to better preserve the environment, and engage with the community.
