SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - PART OF OUR BUSINESS

Making a profit has always been the objective of running a business of any size, whether a small entrepreneurship or a large corporation. Companies today operating within a global economy are facing greater competition and must maintain a significantly more efficient and responsible standard of operation. Therefore while the objective remains the same, the prerequisite for sustaining and increasing profitability in today’s business climate compels companies to consider the social impact and the environmental footprint of their operations.

Within the Volvo Group we have been focusing on these issues for many years. Just recently we published our Sustainability Report for 2009, which is a detailed account of the social, environmental, and economic terms with which the Group operates and develops our global business. As one of the leading providers or commercial transport solutions, we take responsibility by integrating certain values and principles into every area of our business. The four cornerstones of Corporate Social Responsibility for the Volvo Group define our priorities with respect to our customers, stakeholders, society, and the environment.
With Economic Responsibility, we continue to strive by creating value for our customers, shareholders, and the societies in which we operate. One of the ways we do this is by manufacturing our products locally, including here in the United States, thereby creating jobs. In the US we have almost 10,000 employees and manufacturing in 7 states.
In terms of Stakeholder Relations, we believe in building long-term relationships and creating benefit for our customers, employees, suppliers and others. We actively participate in different trade organizations around the world in order to be involved in the progress of our industries and the development of future legislation pertinent to our businesses.
With Societal Engagement we have established relationships and partnerships with organizations, universities and local authorities in order to foster development through various social initiatives, research projects, academic cooperative ventures, sponsorships, as well as volunteer activities. We recently announced a research an academic development partnership with Penn State University.

Through Environmental Care, we are committed to reducing the environmental footprint of our operations by continuing to develop our technology, renewable fuels, efficiency of our transport solutions and production processes. In fact, we recently delivered Mack Hybrid trucks to the US Air force and the US Army.

If you are interested in learning more about our environmental approach, please visit our website where you can download the Sustainability Report:

http://www.volvogroup.com/group/global/en-gb/responsibility/Pages/responsibility.aspx

Please also view my interviews on YouTube where I explain our activities related to the environment.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPqzEyFOy9o

Let’s keep America rolling!