BCD Travel’s corporate social responsibility performance across the globe has earned a second gold rating from EcoVadis, a global independent assessment organization. BCD is the only travel management company to achieve the top CSR rating for two consecutive years. The ranking places the TMC in the top 1% of all suppliers assessed by EcoVadis.
The EcoVadis methodology examines 21 criteria across four themes of environment, fair labor practices, ethics/fair business practices and supply chain. BCD improved upon its CSR rankings from previous years by driving key initiatives, including:
• A more comprehensive annual sustainability report
• Adherence to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reporting standards
• Implementation of a certified global management system for environmental, health and safety initiatives
“This is an impressive achievement,” said David McClintock, marketing director at EcoVadis. “Generally, as a company’s CSR program matures, it becomes more challenging to make incremental improvements in the EcoVadis rating. The work BCD Travel invested in its CSR program over the past 12 months has paid off with a solid 15% improvement. Their dedication sets a great example, even for the most mature programs to keep striving for excellence.”
Rather than approaching corporate social responsibility as an independent set of goals, BCD regards CSR as an underlying component of everything it does, explained Kathy Jackson, BCD Travel’s executive vice president of Global Program Management and executive chair of corporate social responsibility. “It’s part of who we are as an organization. In addition to bolstering our reputation as a great company to do business with, that approach has won us recognition as one of the best employers to work for.”
In August, the company became the first TMC to reach for and achieve silver accreditation from Investors in People, a globally recognized workplace ratings firm. In early October, BCD was named the industry’s Most Admired Travel Management Company for the fifth time.
EcoVadis recently published a case study detailing how BCD successfully expanded its CSR objectives across global operations. The ratings firm monitors and assesses CSR performance of more than 150 leading multinationals worldwide, including Verizon, Nestlé, Johnson & Johnson, Heineken, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Nokia, L’Oréal, Bayer, Alcatel-Lucent, ING Bank, Air France-KLM, Centrica/British Gas, BASF and Merck.
“We’re extremely proud of achieving top recognition by EcoVadis for two consecutive years, because it affirms our long-term commitment as an organization to operating responsibly and sustainably,” Jackson said.
