Sustainability strategy

Our approach to sustainability, in terms of making a ‘better society’, means taking care of the triple bottom line by managing our economic, social and environmental impacts.

Our strategy is defined and developed within the following framework:

• Members - running Nationwide for the benefit of our members and customers, by returning long-term value, ensuring a fair deal and providing excellent service
• Employees - nurturing a workplace culture that rewards excellence and promotes respect
• Community and society – empowering the communities from which we have grown by directing support to where it is most needed
• Environment – making a difference by minimising our adverse impacts and maximising positive contributions
• Suppliers and partners – developing long term relationships that enable sharing of best practice and achievement of common goals
• Products – offering a choice of products which are accessible, transparent and fair and which give long-term value
• Economic impact – ensuring we are an efficient and profitable organisation in order to deliver financial security

To deliver against this, we are focused on:

• materiality: maintaining a focus on key issues which have a potentially significant impact on society, the environment or the organisation, which are of concern to our stakeholders and which we can influence, directly or indirectly
• engagement: working with key stakeholders externally and internally, to address social, environmental and economic issues through collaboration and leadership
• performance: developing key performance indicators to enable business areas to measure and report on social and environmental impacts and progress made

We are currently undertaking a fundamental review of our sustainability strategy, to enable us to respond more effectively to emerging risks and opportunities and to ensure our activities are fully aligned with our business model. For example, the ever-increasing evidence of climate change means we must not only manage our own environmental impacts but also consider the risks and opportunities arising from the impacts of climate change on our own business.