At the end of the year, DMGT achieved Carbon Trust Standard certification for all UK operations, including all subsidiaries. The Standard, which is internationally recognised, was developed in 2007 to encourage good practice in carbon measurement, management and reduction by businesses and public sector organisations.

This year both Harmsworth Quays, our largest printing plant, and Northcliffe House, DMGT's headquarters, and the London base of Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media and dmg events, achieved the key international environmental standard ISO 14001. With these buildings recognised as having a world class standard of managing their environmental impact, our focus has now moved to the facilities in other parts of our business.

Euromoney Institutional Investor has reduced the total operational hours of main plant systems in all of its buildings, saving the equivalent of over 94 days of continual running per year at its four main London sites alone.

The use of energy, newsprint, ink and plates have cost implications and are, therefore, intensively managed across the Group for reasons of good business sense, as well as to reduce their environmental impact.

dmg information's Landmark has developed Carbon Counter, an online service to prepare businesses for the governmental Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme. Also DMGT qualified for this climate change and energy saving programme, central to the UK's strategy for reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

At dmg events, Big 5 won the Green Award at the Middle East Event Awards, an event where 200 nominations are made and decided by a panel of internationally and regionally recognised and respected judges.

All these activities underpin our commitment to reduce our Carbon Footprint by 10% in the five financial years to 2012. This year our Footprint was 102,700 tonnes of CO₂ (2009 107,700 tCO₂), a decrease of about 16,000 tonnes (13%) compared to the baseline (118,600 tCO₂ in 2007), as energy efficiency measures, particularly in printing facilities, and new travel policies took effect across the Group. Having achieved our targeted 10% reduction in under five years, we are now considering what commitment we should make for the next five years to 2014/15.

Newsprint production waste, the most significant element of waste arising from our activities, has been reduced again this year.

With the direct environmental impact from our office-based divisions already low, the existing paper recycling schemes at our offices across the world are being complemented by other recycling initiatives. Plastic, glass, toner cartridges, mobile phones and IT equipment are now being covered and, at Hobsons, also aluminium and metal.

The RMS offices in Newark and London order all office supplies from local suppliers that purchase recycled stationery and practise recycling themselves. They have an open plan office environment designed to take full advantage of natural light as well as using only low energy, low wattage compact fluorescent light fixtures and bulbs.

A&N Media was praised by the Green Standards Trust for participating in the registered charity Waste to Wonder's initiative, recycling and redistributing over 11 tonnes of redundant office furniture; this initiative is now being promoted across the Group.

dmg events is working with its suppliers to recycle as much carpet as possible – the largest waste by-product of any event as venue halls are carpeted in full for each event, with recycling ranging between 30 and 100%.

The International Contemporary Furniture Fair, part of dmg events, coordinates the donation of surplus exhibitor product to Furnish a Future, providing formerly homeless families leaving city shelters with furniture and household goods, and in the tradition of the Daily Mail's "Banish the Bags", the Folkestone Herald's "Pack It In" campaign has encouraged local businesses to recycle plastic waste, including shrink wrap and polythene.

As an equal opportunities employer we believe, it is important for our staff to feel a connection between their values and their work, so we strive to create an inspiring, healthy and inclusive work environment.

Each autonomous business has its own policies and employee initiatives, such as Landmark's travel plan which has already seen a significant rise in car-sharing and cycling among staff. At RMS in London all staff travel to work by public transport, cycle or on foot; and dmg events in its San Francisco office has introduced transportation credits for employees using public transport and a six month trial to allow staff to work from home up to two days a week to reduce the time, cost and impact of commuting.

Group-wide we carried out our first employment survey during the year, which will help us improve employment practices. We launched a fully interactive global intranet, DMGT Connect, with a specific section devoted to our CR activities. We also invest heavily in training and helping our staff develop fulfilled careers with us. A variety of approaches to staff communications exist within the Group: in addition to DMGT Connect, we have numerous intranets within each business; our Chief Executive writes a monthly blog; there are regular communication events and briefings, as well as face-to-face meetings and programmes related to specific key events (such as major changes in operations or equipment).

Remaining in touch with the diverse groups who make up our stakeholders, so as to reflect their interests and champion their causes, is critical to DMGT's continued success. We promote and monitor the spread of Best Practice across our companies and make recommendations to achieve an honest, reliable and trusted relationship with both our customers and suppliers.

Customers

Across the Group customer satisfaction is monitored and analysed in a number of ways, including considered responses to complaints, readership surveys, customer interviews and other processes to ensure we receive timely and relevant feedback from our customers.

There are also a number of standard-setting bodies that have established codes to which DMGT's consumer media division adheres including that of the Press Complaints Commission and the Code of Practice of Newspaper and Magazine Publishing.

Suppliers

Aware of the responsibilities we have along the supply chain, we aim to work with organisations that share our principles and aspirations. In particular for newsprint, our largest purchase, we continually review the environmental credentials of our suppliers and the sourcing of their products. We source our paper mainly from European mills, all of which hold the environmental management standard ISO14001. Where virgin fibres are used in paper manufacture, we require that the forests are certified either by the Forest Stewardship Council or the Pan European Forestry Commission, which run schemes that provide credible guarantees that the product comes from well managed forests.

Our non-print businesses also have supplier policies. A&N Media aims to acquire goods and services from reputable companies with a sound financial and ethical background, ensuring where possible goods are obtained from sustainable sources. Landmark's policy states its belief in sourcing goods and services from suppliers which operate in an ethical way.

Community

Community involvement is integral to our core value of enriching lives and the personal motivation of our employees. This includes community partnerships, supporting local projects, staff volunteering their time and charitable giving.

Our long-term perspective on our businesses and encouraging their active involvement in their communities are key to our corporate responsibility approach. Both Genscape and Hobsons support the independent development organisation Plan, and their staff have been raising money for, visiting and helping communities in Nicaragua and Ghana.

RMS's company-wide Helping Hands initiative has continued to grow in participation and reach since its start as a single, one-department event five years ago.

All our newspapers promote significant CR community activities.

At Northcliffe Media, an ambitious local campaign 'Cots for Tots' shows that local activity remains at the heart of its regional publishing responsibility. The campaign aims to raise £1 million for the neonatal intensive care unit for premature babies in Bristol's St Michael's Hospital. The unit serves the whole of the South West which means that every month, up to 10 babies are turned away because there is no room for them. The £1 million will pay for more intensive care cots, create more space on the ward and provide more accommodation for families. Working with the hospital, the campaign encourages readers to donate and to organise fund-raising events. The Evening Post is running daily stories about the work of the unit, its medical staff and the children and parents it has helped. In its first month the campaign has already raised £50,000.

Northcliffe's Bristol News and Media raised £17,000 – topped up by DMGT to £20,000, double the target – for The Prince's Trust's Enterprise project with a team of 10 volunteers from the newspaper, while the publisher's flagship paper, the Bristol Evening Post was praised in Parliament after it secured 100 apprenticeships with 100 local businesses.

Euromoney, following its successful establishment of an eye hospital in Orissa, India, has a new charity project selected from employee suggestions and ultimately voted on by them – a water and sanitation project in Kechene, Ethiopia. Some £250,000-£300,000 will be contributed from the company's charity budget, clients and staff fundraising.

In January, DMGT's head office staff chose three charities to support through Focus : Kensington & Chelsea. The charities were NOVA New Opportunities, Full of Life and Family Friends. These charities all support disadvantaged young people in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea where our head office is based.

NOVA concentrates on training those who have missed out on learning new technologies and helps them into work and further training. It runs classes in numeracy, literacy and English language, as well as helping with CVs and preparing for job applications. Many of NOVA's clients are mothers returning to work and over 22% are lone parents.

Full of Life was set up by parents of disabled children in Kensington and Chelsea, to provide after-school and holiday activities for their children, as well as support and advice to families and to lobby for improved services for them.

Family Friends befriends and supports families in crisis. Volunteer mentors, working for at least a year with each family, offer guidance, support and encouragement to families wanting to make a positive change to their lives. In its 15 years, Family Friends has assisted over 400 families.

DMGT is also committed to helping initiatives around the Group, donating money to charities where its businesses are involved. By the end of the current year, awards had been committed to Build Change through RMS, the water and sanitation project in Kechene, Ethiopia (described above) through Euromoney and two charities through A&N Media, the Journalism Diversity Fund and Catch 22.

At the heart of our corporate responsibility approach is sustainability. We know that to be a successful business requires not only achieving on the conventional measures, but doing so while operating in a wholly socially responsible way.

The issues surrounding sustainability offer our businesses opportunities, aligning our interests with those of society as a whole. We are continually investigating how to employ more sustainable practices.

Our objective is to contribute more to society, take less from the environment and still improve our prospects as a business. We are determined to make a positive social impact with our various stakeholders as well as the community at large.