As a financial institution, part of our impact on the environment and the community is indirect, through the support we provide to other businesses. In many cases, these customers are themselves part of a long value chain. They are becoming increasingly aware of – and accountable for – sustainability issues that can’t be neatly assigned to individual links within the chain. We can help by identifying some of the challenges we face together. Where does the responsibility for the value chain begin and where does it end? How far should our influence extend? How can we use that influence to make supply chains more sustainable, to what extent and at what price?

We believe at Fortis that we need to take action ourselves rather than waiting for an international consensus. Which is why we are systematically drawing up policies to deal with CSR issues in the various supply chains in which we are engaged.

For a full overview of our activities in the field of sustainable supply chains, please refer to our 2007 CSR Report.