Royal Mail Group plc Sustainable Development Charter - Purchasing

As a company we care about the impact our actions have on our stakeholders and future generations. Our goals are the prevention of injury and losses to our people, a healthy environment for our colleagues and communities, and world class care for our workforce. We recognise our progress towards corporate sustainable development needs a partnership with our suppliers. This Charter commits us to being a socially responsible organisation reducing consumption of finite resources, and encouraging suppliers to improve their environmental performance.

Definition	Sustainable Development - at its heart is the simple idea of ensuring a better quality of life for everyone - now and for generations to come. It means meeting four key objectives at the same time in the UK and world as a whole: Social progress which recognises the needs of everyone Effective protection of the environment Prudent use of natural resources Maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth and employment Corporate Social Responsibility - understanding and managing the impact a company has on the world around it as part of its core business activities
Royal Mail's commitment to Sustainable Development	Our environmental objectives are: To increase our usage of renewable energy. To reduce our: Water usage Group-wide fleet fuel usage CO2 emissions arising from our operations Solid waste going to landfill Packaging at source Overall energy consumption for building use
Purchasing's commitment to the environment and ethical trading issues	Our objective is to work with our suppliers to minimise the impact of our combined operations through a united approach to our purchasing policy and to develop, where practical, new products and services that seek to achieve greater sustainability. Through the annual Royal Mail First Class Supplier Awards process, measure and recognise our suppliers' achievements and contribution to sustainable development. Recognise through the Henry Fawcett Award suppliers' achievement in the areas of disability and action in the community. Recognise through the Sustainable Development Award the supplier who best manages the impact of their operations on our planet and who are taking positive actions to reduce that impact. We will require our suppliers to comply with International Labour Organisation standards at all stages of the supply chain. An Environmental Steering Group will continuously review sustainable development issues in the Supply Chain.