CSR Policy

Introduction

This Statement details how Natural Power takes account of the economic, social and environmental impact of the way it operates as a business. By demonstrating our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, we aim to align our business values, purpose and strategy with the needs of our clients, whilst embedding responsible and ethical behaviours in everything we do.

This Statement sets out our principles in dealing with our clients, suppliers and local communities, to develop relationships that support our goal to reduce our utilities, transport and other business usages, and the effects of our procurement activities, to minimise our carbon footprint and environmental impact.

Environment

Protection of the environment in which we live and operate is part of Natural Power’s mission and values, and we consider it to be sound business practice. Care for the environment is one of our key responsibilities and an important part of the way in which we do business.

This Statement should be read in conjunction with our Corporate Governance Code of Conduct.

As a company, we commit that we shall:

• Comply with all relevant environmental legislation, regulations and approved codes of practice
• Protect the environment by striving to prevent or minimise our contribution to pollution of land, air, and water
• Seek to keep wastage to a minimum and maximise the efficient use of materials and resources
• Manage and dispose of all waste in a responsible manner
• Provide training for our staff to ensure we all work in accordance with this policy statement and within an environmentally aware culture
• Regularly communicate our environmental performance to our employees and other significant stakeholders
• Develop our management processes to ensure that environmental factors are considered during planning and implementation
• Monitor and continuously improve our environmental performance

The nature of our work as a consultancy means we have minimal environmental impact from our own activities, but a high degree of influence through our advisory services. We consider environmental issues in all the professional services we provide and endeavour to reduce our environmental impact to the absolute minimum.

To ensure that Natural Power achieves this, we shall drive behaviours to:

• Reduce our transportation requirements wherever possible, promoting the use of public transport and remote conferencing facilities where appropriate
• Guarantee company vehicles are regularly serviced, including the verification of emission levels and economical usage of fuel
• Source and buy locally to save fuel costs wherever possible
• Ensure that all lights and equipment are switched off when not required
• Ensure that water is used efficiently
• Promote the use of scrap paper for drafts and notes
• Print in mono and double sided as standard
• Recycle the maximum percentage of waste (shredding all business documentation)
• Source recycled materials wherever possible
• Work with like-minded suppliers who take steps to minimise their environmental impact

Local Community

The communities we work within are key to our success, and we will champion the building of local relationships to develop opportunities to:

• Work with and support local and national charities
• Complete volunteer work as part of community activities
• Support local schools
• Undertake voluntary business advisory services via professional bodies

Clients

To filfil our commitment to dealing responsibly, openly and fairly with all clients and potential clients we shall:

• Guarantee that our advertising and documentation about the business and its activities are clear, informative, legal, decent, honest and truthful
• Be open and honest about our products and services, including what we do to be socially responsible
• Never employ pressure selling techniques
• Acknowledge the problem and deal with it in the event we don’t meet expectations
• Listen to our stakeholders to improve the products and services we offer
• Benchmark and evaluate what we do to continuously improve our offering to the marketplace

We commit to dealing with our suppliers in a similarly responsible, open and fair manner, and shall:

• Use local suppliers wherever appropriate
• Pay our commitments on time, excepting exceptional circumstances
• Never expect a discount to be offered where it may have a detrimental effect on the suppliers’ business

The operational and ultimate responsibility for the commitment to our Corporate Social Responsibility principles lies with the Directors of Natural Power, but every employee is expected to give their full cooperation to the above principles in their activities at work. All consultants and visitors are expected to adhere to these same principles.

The effectiveness of the Policy Statement will be monitored and reviewed at least annually by the Directors to ensure the Company’s continuing compliance with any relevant legislation, to meet new business requirements and to identify areas in need of improvement.

Signed,

Robert P Brown

Managing Director