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?
- 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.
- Our Good Business Conduct (‘GBC’) policy is intended to give guidance to all our employees on Ørsted’s expectations regarding their behaviour. The GBC policy, including supporting documents and procedures, makes up Ørsted’s anti-corruption compliance programme and establishes strict limits on our interactions with government officials and business partners. It also introduces other areas, namely competition law, financial regulation, personal data regulation and securities law.
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 2023.
| Substantiated whistle-blower cases (number) | |
8 |
18 |
| 2022 | 2023 |
|
Substantiated cases transferred to the police (number) |
|
1 |
1 |
| 2022 | 2023 |
Latest updates from 2023
- We initiated a review of the Good Business Conduct policy to ensure it is aligned with the changing regulatory environment and risks.
- We updated our Authorisation Rules to reflect our new global operating model, including changes to our organisational setup.
- We circulated guidance on conflicts of interest to people leaders to enhance awareness.
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
These efforts contribute towards the following Sustainable Development Goals:
