Alcatel-Lucent affirms its commitment to responsible business innovation

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) has affirmed its commitment to sustainability, responsible business practice and innovation in making communications more sustainable, affordable, and accessible, with the publication today of its 2013 Sustainability performance.

Commenting, Alcatel-Lucent CEO Michel Combes said: “Within The Shift Plan launched one year ago, we regard sustainability as a key competitive differentiator in our activities and in our innovation. My ambition is for Alcatel-Lucent to be the recognized worldwide leader in sustainability and responsible business innovation for the technology industry. Furthermore, sustainability is a real and important business driver in today’s digital economy.  Alcatel-Lucent will be proactively engaging with the industry, the financial community in driving this forward.”

Alcatel-Lucent’s  2013 Sustainability Report – which is available to read online – comprehensively outlines Alcatel-Lucent’s performance in making communications more sustainable, affordable and accessible, while making sustainability a key component of the company’s brand as a leading innovator and trusted partner for its customers.

With sustainable business and innovation a vital component of The Shift Plan, the industrial program to focus Alcatel-Lucent as a leader in IP networking, cloud and ultra-broadband access technologies, the 2013 Sustainability Report outlines the numerous achievements, milestones and distinctions reached by the company in pursuit of its sustainability strategy.

For the second year in a row Alcatel-Lucent was named Technology Hardware & Equipment Industry Group Leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. The company was included – also for a second year running – in RobecoSAM’s Sustainability Yearbook, with Industry Leader and Gold Class awards, and which lists the top-scoring 15% of the world’s largest 2,000 companies across 59 different sectors.  Alcatel-Lucent was also given Gold Recognition in its CSR evaluation by EcoVadis, placing it in the top 2% of assessed suppliers in all industrial categories.

To achieve such recognition, Alcatel-Lucent differentiates itself as a responsible business innovator across three main areas:

• A best-in-class compliance program promoting zero tolerance for compliance violations. Applicable to employees, contractors and sub-contractors, and including an outright ban on use of sales agents. For 2013 the company reported no competition or anti-trust violations, and 96% of its employees participated in the company’s internal Code of Conduct review and acknowledgement process. The company also published implementing measures according to the Telecoms Industry Dialogue 10 Guiding Principles regarding Human Rights Freedom of Expression and Privacy.
• Sustainability as a key requirement across the supply chain. Alcatel-Lucent requires sustainability commitments, assesses and improves the sustainability performance of our suppliers and subcontractors in line with Alcatel-Lucent’s supplier code of conduct and the United Nations Global Compact requirements.  In 2013, 77% of active suppliers assessed were rated ‘satisfactory’ or above regarding sustainability performance, the company also screened 1515 suppliers in its anti-corruption program,  and 350 suppliers were surveyed to determine the origin of conflict minerals in their components. Alcatel-Lucent has also filed and published its first Conflict Minerals Report.
• Eco-innovation across the product portfolio while raising the bar for the industry. Alcatel-Lucent applies leading energy efficiency requirements for its product and solutions portfolio while focusing on reducing its own operational carbon footprint. In 2013, 10% of Bell Labs patents involved energy-related and green innovations and  Bell Labs research programs focused on improving end-to-end networks energy efficiency and power consumption. In addition, for 2013, 97% of electronic waste was recycled or reused and the company reduced its carbon footprint by 32%. This respresents 50% of its ultimate goal to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% by 2020.  And through the Bell Labs led research consortium GreenTouch, in 2013 it showed a 90% reduction in network energy consumption is possible with 2020 traffic growth.  GreenTouch is working with over 48 members worldwide to make telecommunications networks up to 1,000 times more energy efficient for the ICT sector.

To read more about Alcatel-Lucent’s commitment to responsible business innovation, as well as to read the 2013 Sustainability Report in full, please visit alcatel-lucent.com/sustainability.