Our approach to corporate responsibility has evolved considerably over the last five years and is increasingly integral to the way we manage our business. As a result, corporate responsibility is now a fundamental part of our mainstream governance processes and reporting.
Corporate responsibility governance
Our board of directors takes formal ownership and accountability for corporate responsibility at ArcelorMittal, and plays an active part in overseeing how these issues are managed and measured. Performance is reviewed by the board every quarter.
There are three board committees which are also involved in the oversight of specific corporate responsibility issues. The audit committee monitors the implementation of our human rights policy as part of its compliance reporting remit, and the appointments, remuneration and corporate governance committee considers the application of the company’s corporate responsibility policies more broadly and oversees improvements in governance. The board risk management committee also discusses specific social, environmental or ethical issues that present a potential or actual risk to the business. In addition, Group Management Board member, Gonzalo Urquijo has corporate responsibility within his daily responsibilities.
Implementation of the corporate responsibility strategy
The implementation of our corporate responsibility strategy is supported and coordinated by the group corporate responsibility team. This team has expertise in specific areas such as responsible sourcing, human rights, reporting, and stakeholder engagement. It also engages with global stakeholders such as international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and with socially responsible investors. The central team is supported by the corporate responsibility coordination group. This brings in senior managers from risk, internal assurance, international affairs, environment, company secretariat, communications, legal and compliance, mining and human resources departments. In 2012, the group met nine times and discussed topics such as health and safety, responsible sourcing and engaging with investors.
One of the areas where we have seen the greatest progress since 2007 has been in our local and regional network of corporate responsibility coordinators. Every plant manager and local CEO is responsible for these issues in their own operation, and they are supported by local corporate responsibility coordinators, who ensure that group policies and standards are put in place. They also manage important programmes such as our stakeholder engagement activities, and communicate corporate responsibility initiatives to local managers and employees.
In 2012 we piloted a new corporate responsibility self-assessment online tool. From 2013 this tool is available for all local operations to assess their level of compliance with our corporate responsibility policies and procedures.
This web-page was part of Deloitte's CR report assurance scope. View Deloitte LLPs assurance statement.