Good businesses operate with honesty and integrity. We’re dedicated to spreading awareness and promoting responsible conduct across all aspects of our business.
Why is good business conduct important?
At Ørsted, we respond to the financial, technical, commercial, and ethical challenges that we face every day, both as a business and as individuals. We do so by acting with integrity in our dealings with all stakeholders. Our good business conduct policy is intended to give guidance to all our employees on Ørsted’s expectations regarding their behaviour.
What are we doing?
To cut supply chain emissions, we are dependent on the success of our suppliers, and their suppliers in turn, meaning that active collaboration is key.
- We have zero tolerance of all forms of bribery, corruption, and kickbacks, given or received, direct or indirect. The nature of our business routinely requires that we interact with government officials and business partners around the world. Therefore, adherence to our policy on good business conduct is a key focus, both internally and with our business partners, and is promoted through policies, procedures, and reporting mechanisms.
- All new employees must complete a mandatory e-learning course on good business conduct, which is repeated every two years.
- Successful mitigation of potential antibribery and corruption (‘ABC’) risks has been a key factor in promoting overall business integrity at Ørsted. This is bolstered by our whistle-blower hotline, which handles all reported investigations promptly while also coordinating with affected areas and stakeholders. This provides a safe and confidential mechanism for anyone to report any concerns they might have within Ørsted and further supports good integrity within the business.
How are we doing?
We record the number of substantiated whistle-blower cases and how many were transferred to the police. Read on to find out how we dealt with these cases in 2022.
| Substantiated whistle-blower cases (number) | ||
4 |
5 |
8 |
| 2022 | 2021 | 2022 |
|
Substantiated cases transferred to the police (number) |
||
1 |
0 |
1 |
| 2022 | 2021 | 2022 |
Latest updates from 2022
- We continued to make efforts to strengthen our ‘Know your counterparty’ (KYC) screening programme against sanctions, government watch lists, and adverse media, as well as the performance of our risk-based due diligence of business partners. This involved upgrading our KYC tool to include a wider and more enhanced database, along with an updated risk score to better encompass the risks we encounter.
- We implemented a business partner due diligence process. Through it, we assess whether a business partner lives up to an extended KYC and the high standards of our code of conduct for business partners, covering human rights, labour rights, environment, and anti-corruption.
- Conscious of our expanding global footprint, we continued to assess how local customs and best practices compare to group policies and procedures, ensuring full adherence to our policy on good business conduct while understanding the local environment.
- Eight substantiated cases of inappropriate or unlawful behaviour were reported through our whistle-blower scheme. Six cases related to violations of our good business conduct policy, one case concerned IT security, and one case concerned the workplace environment. One case required a police report. None of the reported cases were critical to our business or caused adjustments to our financial results.
- Ensuring adherence to our good business conduct policy is obviously a key focus area, and following the increase in the number of substantiated cases, initiatives have been taken to strengthen awareness, monitoring, and stronger communication from management.
What’s next?
We’ll continuously strive to improve our compliance set-up to meet regulatory obligations as effectively as possible while also aligning with best practices in the countries where we operate.
Key information
Partnerships
We’re part of the Confederation of Danish Industry’s Anti-Corruption Working Group and Sanctions and Trade Controls’ Group, where we share best practices and develop a useful network across industries.
International frameworks
- Anti-corruption regulations in the countries where we operate, including the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
- OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
- OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions
Governance
Accountability for cybersecurity lies with our Chief Financial Officer. Accountability for P2X lies with our Head of P2X.
Policies
This programme contributes towards the following Sustainable Development Goals:
