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| Measuring our performance |
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We have so far used metrics of various kinds to assess our sustainability performance. These metrics have helped raise the issue of measurement of sustainability and have given us a sense of the areas in which we were both strong and weak.
However, we have become aware of their limits. While it is quite easy to measure some aspects of sustainability, it is difficult to create metrics that quantify progress in other areas. For instance, measuring health and safety incidents makes sense, but measuring waste recycled, for example, can be very misleading. For instance, if AMEC runs a big highway project one year, generating a lot of waste, and the next year has no similar project, waste recycling will fall – but this is not a meaningful indicator of our approach to waste management. Generally, it is easier to measure our ability to prevent negatives like accidents than it is to measure the positive benefits we bring – and we now believe a qualitative, or case-study based approach is a better way to chart our progress in this kind of area. Also, we have learned that it is hard to apply global standards across a company. The different parts of AMEC operate in very different business, social and cultural climates and in this sense our company is a microcosm of the global community, which has yet to agree on the implementation of sustainability priorities like addressing global warming. Energy consumption is viewed differently in North America than in the UK, and in Continental Europe the approach is different again. While we strive to introduce a higher standard across our company, we have to recognise the realities of the environment in which our businesses operate. If their customers, suppliers and communities do not view an issue as a high priority, it will be difficult for us to make any progress in that area. The role of the central sustainability forum at AMEC is to set standards in line with best practice, but we have to recognise our businesses operate in an often harsh and competitive world and that being asked to measure and monitor yet more data can be very burdensome. For all these reasons, in 2005 we will move to a more qualitative but still demanding way of measuring performance. We will be using a matrix, or scorecard, which we developed to align with our own corporate agenda, and more broadly, with the United Nations Agenda 21. |
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AMEC sustainability scorecard |
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