ITT Flygt, the inventors of the submersible pump and mixer, and one of the founders of the Stockholm Water Prize, is once again at the forefront of environmental progress, with the launch of the world’s first Sustainability Report.Sustainability, as defined by the Brundtland Commission, “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. This definition has been used by ITT Flygt to produce a Sustainability Report, which they did along with twenty other companies including British Airways, Ford Motors, General Motors and Shell, among others.
The new report stems from an initiative taken by CERES - Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies. In 1997 a large number of environmentally committed companies and organisations, including ITT Industries, formed an independent organisation, known as the GRI – Global Reporting Initiative. In 1998 ITT Flygt was invited to represent ITT Industries.
In 1999 the GRI drew up the guidelines for a new way of reporting on the sustainability of a company. The need for such a report came from the difficulty in comparing companies, especially between different countries. The GRI realised that in order to compare companies with one another, it’s not only necessary to know economic facts, but also social, ethical and environmental factors. Once all these factors are know it is possible to evaluate the sustainability of a company.
Thus the Sustainability Report, containing all these factors, was born.
ITT Flygt, together with ERM – Environment Resources Management, developed the three-sided Sustainability Pyramid to compile their report. This represents the integration and management of economic, environmental and social performance. The economic side, being the most developed and established, has its own accepted currency, terminology, monitoring and reporting system. However due to the many different systems of environmental and social reporting that have been developed in the past, a single system is important for comparison of companies, which is what the Sustainability Report provides. The actual integration of the economic, environmental and social dimensions are within the pyramid.
The report illustrates ITT Flygt’s long-term perspective and is the first step on the path to sustainable development. It also reflects the overall performance of the company during 1999 and can be used not only as a comparable tool for stakeholders, but also as an improvement tool by the company.
ITT Flygt’s Sustainability Report is available on their Internet site http://www.flygt.com alternatively an eight page printed summary is also available.
For further information please contact
Mark Booth, Infomaster, ITT Flygt AB
mark.booth@flygt.com
