The energy company Fortum Corporation is the best reporter in Finland on matters relating to the environment and social responsibility. The company received an award for being a good overall reporter in all forms of reporting in a competition that was held for the eighth time.

The competition for 2003 assessed the reporting of matters relating to the environment and social responsibility in annual reports, separate reports and on websites by a total of 156 Finnish companies and public management organizations. Those taking part included all the companies on the main listing of the Helsinki Stock Exchanges, 82 per cent of which report through annual reports, 55 per cent through the Internet and 17 per cent through separate reports.

Fortum's victory was assured by the good level in all the forms of reporting. The committee making the award said that "the company reports about matters relating to the environment and social responsibility mainly on the Internet, where a great amount of information has been outlined clearly. The usability of the pages has improved from previous years. The paper summary included all the essential facts in a brief form and it functions very independently."

Part of each day

Finland's best reports have received an award since 1996. Fortum has been placed among the best reporters every year.

"We have a long tradition in reporting. People at Fortum focus on these matters every day in their own work, so the challenge in the reporting is mainly to gather together all the existing information," says Arja Koski, senior vice president, EHS, at Fortum.

Koski says that sustainable development is apparent in the company's values, strategy and everyday operations. "For the customer sustainable development is best seen in our products, such as environment-friendly petrol, bio-based heat transmission liquid and wind electricity."

As one of the leading energy companies in Scandinavia and the Baltic region, Fortum wants to be among the best in all it does. That is why the reporting award is so highly valued. "The evaluation gives constructive information about what went well and where improvements can be made in the future," Koski stresses.

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Fortum Corporation bases its operations on sustainable development. For example, in 2002 renewable energy sources accounted for 50 per cent of its electricity production and carbon-free energy sources for 72 per cent.