BT spearheads code of social responsibility

Date: 21/02/02

By Peter Chapman

THE EU should encourage European firms to disclose their policies on social, ethical and environmental issues, says the man responsible for winning British Telecom an award for its business practices.

The call from Chris Tuppen, head of corporate development and corporate accountability at BT, comes as the European Commission prepares to follow up last year's green paper on corporate social responsibility.

Speaking ahead of European Parliament hearings on the issue this week, he said the EU should emulate the UK law that requires pension fund trustees to disclose the extent to which they are using social, ethical and environmental criteria in their investments.

BT was named the world's number-one telecoms company in the Dow Jones 'sustainability' rankings. Tuppen said the peer group pressure created by the law forced companies to take corporate social responsibility seriously - even though the UK law did not impose strict requirements on how funds should invest.

He said it helped the many institutional and private investors who now shun companies focused on short-term profit and loss in favour of firms that consider the impact of their business.

'Once you have this level of transparency it encourages a greater level of engagement and interest by the international investment community,' Tuppen said.

The EU should encourage European firms to disclose their policies on social, ethical and environmental issues, says Chris Tuppen, head of corporate development and corporate accountability at BT.