1. Large Business: Resources: Oil, Gas, Forestry and Mining
Staff: Craig Stenhouse, Group Lead, Corporate Responsibility, Cenovus Energy Inc.
The company: Cenovus Energy is a Canadian oil company with operations that include oil sands projects in northern Alberta as well as natural gas and oil production across Alberta and southern Saskatchewan and 50% ownership in two US refineries. Cenovus began independent operations on December 1, 2009 when EnCana split into two distinct companies, oil company Cenovus and natural gas company EnCana.
The achievement: Craig’s primary responsibilities in his role at Cenovus Energy Inc. include integrating CR initiatives into business strategy, demonstrating CR performance to external stakeholders and managing Cenovus’s overall CR performance and policy. In 2010, Cenovus launched an extensive engagement process with stakeholders to revise its existing corporate responsibility policy, originally developed in 2003 as EnCana. This new policy consists of six specific commitment areas: Leadership, Corporate Governance and Business Practices; People; Environmental Performance; Stakeholder and Aboriginal Engagement; Community Involvement and Investment. Key changes in the policy included the reinforcement of safety throughout the policy; specific recognition of the need to work within environmental limits; inclusion of investment in new technologies and research; greater emphasis on Aboriginal engagement; and support of the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “The people sitting at our executive table and our CEO are supportive of what we do, and committed to integrating corporate responsibility into decision making,” says Craig Stenhouse, Group Lead, Corporate Responsibility. “We have a seat at that executive table, and not many companies have that.”
Senior: Bill Galloway, Senior Vice President, Holcim (Canada) Inc.
The company: Holcim (Canada) Inc. is a national leader in the extraction of stone, sand and gravel.
The achievement: Bill Galloway has served as Senior Vice President at Holcim (Canada) Inc., a leading aggregate company in Canada, since 2007. Mr. Galloway has been employed in the aggregate extraction , building material and construction industry since 1993 when he started as General Manager at Boehmers.
Over the years, Galloway has made it his personal mission to ensure that Holcim (Canada) Inc. assumes a leadership role in good corporate citizenship and sustainable environment performance. Under his leadership, the company has won numerous awards for property enhancements, community relations, environment manage and progressive rehabilitation.
The aggregate industry has a legacy of conflict with stakeholders including community, environmental groups and regulatory agencies resulting in a lengthy, expensive and contentious approval process that creates uncertainty for all involved. In 2009, Holcim committed itself to be best in class in social and environmental practices and aligned its corporate strategy to reflect an emphasis on managing to a triple bottom line—people, planet, profit—within the business. As a result, in 2011, Holcim collaborated with Environmental Defence to take an unprecedented step towards improving industry’s approach to sustainable environmental performance and effectively engaging with community and stakeholders. Together, they formed SERA, Socially and Environmentally Responsible Aggregate, an independent not-for-profit organization that has developed draft standards setting a world-class approach for aggregate extraction. As of June 1, SERA has become an independent organization, and has established a technical advisory group that will take the draft standards, finalize them and develop an auditing process.
Team: Holcim (Canada) Inc.
The company: Holcim (Canada) Inc. is a national leader in the extraction of stone, sand and gravel.
The achievement: The aggregate industry has a legacy of conflict with stakeholders including community, environmental groups and regulatory agencies resulting in a lengthy, expensive and contentious approval process that creates uncertainty for all involved. In 2009, Holcim committed itself to be best in class in social and environmental practices and aligned its corporate strategy to reflect an emphasis on managing to a triple bottom line—people, planet, profit—within the business. As a result, in 2011, the Holcim team collaborated with Environmental Defence to take an unprecedented step towards improving industry’s approach to sustainable environmental performance and effectively engaging with community and stakeholders. Together, they formed SERA, Socially and Environmentally Responsible Aggregate, an independent not-for-profit organization that has developed draft standards setting a world-class approach for aggregate extraction. As of June 1, SERA has become an independent organization, and has established a technical advisory group that will take the draft standards, finalize them and develop an auditing process. “At Holcim, we’re saying we’re prepared to put our sights through this SERA process and if there need to be changes, we’re prepared to make those changes because it’s the right thing to do,” says Andrea Bourrie, Director, Planning and Regulatory Affairs.
