Our ambitions regarding Corporate Social Responsibility
It is our mission to promote sustainable agriculture, nutrition and health. In this way, as a knowledge institute, we contribute to a more sustainable world and the healthy development of people, animals, plants and soil. For more than 40 years, this has been the leitmotiv in our work. It is our ambition to be innovative in sustainability and to be a socially responsible organisation.
Our CSR policy
Our CSR policy logically follows from our mission and systems approach and is at the basis of all that we do. Within our internal organisation, sustainability is a matter of course. It goes without saying that we strive for 100% sustainable procurement and promote healthy and environmentally friendly behaviour in our staff members. However, as everyone does, we also encounter practical obstacles along the way. We continue to pay attention to this theme in our pursuit of continual improvement. Our focal points for the coming years include the further development and well-being of our staff, sustainable procurement policy and a further reduction in our CO2 emissions.
Accountability
We are actively and transparently accountable, which also includes our annual report and this webpage.
Examples of our own behaviour
How are we behaving as an institute, in concrete terms? Examples include our sustainable operational behaviour, in accordance with which we separate green and plastic waste from the rest, and have had solar panels installed (almost five MWH), as well as three recharging points for electric vehicles. We deliberately chose our physical location to be near a railway station and a bus stop, have company cars and a Greenwheels car-sharing contract to stimulate the sharing of transport modes. Each year, we reassess whether we will be able to completely switch to electric or other sustainable means of transportation. At the moment, one of the three company cars is a hybrid vehicle, which is mainly used for field work.
We also encourage positive behaviour in our staff members. About 5% of our turnover is spent on knowledge and personal development projects for our staff members, as well as on projects for which it is not easy to achieve funding from outside sources. Such projects include, for example, food banks or the development of a tool to improve certain insights into agricultural matters, such as the carbon balance. We also have a budget for our staff’s educational development and we actively encourage them to utilise this budget. Furthermore, they receive a 10% profit share. Even though LBI is a non-profit institute, in good years, a positive result partly flows to the staff. The remaining amount forms a reserve for the future or is invested in more knowledge in support of our mission.
Whenever possible, we also play a role in supporting our partners. We often collaborate with others who are pursuing societal goals, are also non-profit and sometimes are less strong, financially. Projects often need to be pre-financed and we regularly take our responsibility by doing so for our partners as well — particularly, in recent years where we have been in a financially healthy position. In this way, we stimulate combining social decisiveness and sustainable development.