CSR Awards: Sustainability/CSR Report – H.J. Heinz Company

In 2008, H.J. Heinz launched a global sustainability initiative to reduce greenhouse gases, energy consumption and water usage by 20% by 2015. The challenge: to present Heinz’s numerous worldwide sustainability programs and their results so far in a comprehensive yet readable format. The decision was made to present the initiatives in an online 2009 CSR Report.

The creation of the report began with a May 2009 survey of stakeholders, polling them of interests in various sustainability topics and how they preferred the data be presented.

According to Michael Mullen, VP of corporate and government affairs at H.J. Heinz, the biggest challenge was collecting the information from numerous business units from around the world, and effectively packaging the content for the Web. “We improved our planning process, set aggressive deadlines and created a template that gathered regional CSR content,” says Mullen. The result was a comprehensive yet easy-to-digest CSR destination (www.heinz.com/csr2009) that tells the initiative’s story through a variety of digital techniques. ■

Honorable Mentions:

Monsanto Company —

Monsanto’s CSR and sustainability report ably communicates its “Grown for the Future” message, with detailed metrics on major crop demands and perspectives from outside experts.

Brown-Forman Corporation —

Brown-Forman combined online and print content to articulate its CSR strategies. To augment the report, the company launched The Issues Forum at www.ourthinkingaboutdrinking.com to share views on alcohol-related issues.

Verizon Communications —

With the tagline Integrity/Respect/Performance Excellence/Accountability, Verizon’s report features a Measurable Results section that deftly shows the company’s successes via bar charts and other compelling graphics.

Hess Corporation —

Hess elevated its Corporate Sustainability Report’s rating from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) from a B+ to an A+ through complete transparency and improvement in the quality and overall presentation of sustainability data.

March 1, 2010