Introduction by Group Chief Executive John Varley

 

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been widely adopted as part of the strategic agenda of companies around the world. And it has become an important part of our life at Barclays.

In this, our eighth such report, we are developing our CSR ambitions under the strapline of ‘sustainability’. That’s the way we like to think about responsible corporate citizenship and it is the way that, in the future, we will report on the progress of our responsible banking across Barclays.

What do we mean by sustainability? Two things. First, we strive for sustainable relationships. That means seeking to ensure that, in the way that we serve our customers and clients, our long-term values of innovation, trust, and putting customers first are observable in how we behave.

Second, sustainability includes but expands the idea of being a responsible global citizen. Banks are an indispensable part of a productive economy and a healthy society. They facilitate risk taking and entrepreneurship, and they help those they serve achieve their goals – both are fundamental ingredients of sustainable economic growth and progression. Our corporate citizenship should not be confined to the making of philanthropic donations. It must include our obligations as a responsible employer, and our duty to manage the wider social and environmental impact of what we do.

We feel that ‘sustainability’ better captures these responsibilities and applying the term to our activities will keep us mindful of the centrality and durability of these commitments to our business and our brand.

It is very important to me that we can track how we are doing. And that we are candid in our self-assessment each year. We want our stakeholders to know that we take these matters seriously, in the certainty that they will judge us just as we judge ourselves, by what we do and not by what we say. As pleased as I am by the progress we report in this Review, I am very conscious of our need to hold ourselves to a requirement of continuous improvement. Barclays is not yet where I want it to be.

The format of our reporting has changed this year, and I wanted to explain why. We are committed as a Group to global carbon neutrality in 2009, and we set ourselves tough standards to reduce our waste and to increase our recycling. As a symbol of this commitment, for the first time this year more of our reporting is online than in printed form.

John Varley
Group Chief Executive