Environmental management
Progress and highlights during 2007
2007 ended on a high note with the Oldham press site successfully meeting its target to gain independent certification to the international environmental management system standard ISO 14001. This has been achieved after two years of dedicated effort by employees at the site, and the system that has been established at Oldham will serve as a model for the roll-out of environmental management systems throughout our printing operations.
The Environmental Steering Group, reporting to the Executive Committee via the Secretary and Group Legal Director, has continued to meet through 2007. The Steering Group is charged with reviewing the environmental agenda and with making recommendations to ensure that Trinity Mirror’s environmental programme remains aligned with the key issues.
During 2007, concerns about climate change have escalated throughout the world, leading to an unprecedented level of public interest and proposals for stronger legislation. The UK government has made proposals to introduce new regulations under the ‘Carbon Reduction Commitment’ that may significantly affect major users of electricity, including Trinity Mirror. If implemented, the regulations will establish a mandatory ‘cap-and-trade’ scheme under which companies will have to buy, at auction, permits to emit carbon dioxide.
Paper purchasing continues to represent an important area where Trinity Mirror has the potential to affect the environment. Whilst concerns about paper sourcing have traditionally focussed on issues surrounding sustainable forestry, attention is now shifting to the
‘carbon footprint’ of paper supplies because of the relatively high energy requirements of pulp and paper making.
As a result of these developments, a small number of amendments have been made to Trinity Mirror’s Environmental Policy, reflecting the Company’s commitment to identify and report business risks and opportunities presented by climate change and also to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. The full version of the revised Environmental Policy may be found at
www.trinitymirror.com/ environment/environpolicy.
Trinity Mirror remains committed to driving environmental improvements by setting and achieving clear targets. Performance against 2007 targets is reported below, together with a new and wider set of environmental targets that have been agreed for completion during the next 12-24 months.
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