According to Business in the Environment (BiE), benchmarking is a process of comparing ‘…organisational structure, process and performance against those of best practice organisations for the purpose of achieving sustainable business performance.'

Powergen endorses this approach, making benchmarking the way in which we monitor our performance against others. It helps us to identify our strengths and weaknesses and is often the inspiration for working just that little bit harder to attain ‘best in class’ status. Benchmarking is therefore a valuable management tool that allows us to strive continually to improve our performance.

Under the microscope

By participating in benchmarking surveys, companies are required to put themselves ‘under the microscope’. This can be a daunting exercise. However, Powergen believes benchmarking allows us to demonstrate greater openness - we are willing to have our performance scrutinised in order to provide feedback to stakeholders, not least Powergen management and employees. Benchmarking also allows us to learn from the best and adopt new business practices.

Benchmarking surveys have become more demanding - the microscope’s lens has become more powerful. Surveys increasingly ask companies to comment on all aspects of their environmental and social responsibilities in an effort to weigh up just how ‘sustainable’ they are. Powergen’s performance in a number of these broader sustainability surveys is listed in the table below. For continuity, the table also includes our performance results from several environmental surveys - a feature in past Environmental Reports.

Two results are particularly noteworthy: our first place ranking amongst the other Electric Utilities within the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) and our fall - for the second year running - in the BiE Index. Our performance within the DJSI was in part due to a very strong result in year-on-year environmental performance as well as our results for eco-efficiency, labour practices and stakeholder involvement. The fall within the BiE Index reflects a need for more challenging corporate environmental targets that fully integrate the management and performance of UK and US Operations.

* For the Group (i.e. UK and US Operations and Asian Asset Management), unless stated otherwise