GE Releases Seventh Annual Citizenship Report

Creating sustainable values to address global challenges

Aug 10, 2011 9:00 AM ET

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Summary:

GE released its seventh annual Citizenship Report today, focused on “Sustainable Growth.” The report outlines the company’s wide-ranging efforts to address key global challenges, from struggling cities to water scarcity, from financial volatility to chronic disease, among several others. GE details its work within two primary global citizenship themes: “Energy and Climate Change” and “Sustainable Healthcare.”

Press Release

(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) Fairfield, CT - August 10, 2011 - GE today released its seventh annual Citizenship Report, entitled Sustainable Growth. The report covers GE's worldwide operations for the 2010 fiscal year and for the first time discusses at great length the process of GE's long-term value creation from the citizenship perspective, by identifying global challenges, GE's expertise, contribution and impact, and value creation. The report also includes a ten-year retrospective, drawing on perspectives from the expert panel, to reflect upon the evolution of citizenship as well as expectations and opportunities for the future.

"Sustainable growth requires solutions that go beyond the scale of individual companies. As economies renew, governments, businesses, and society must all play a role in solving economic and societal problems," Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE, said. "GE's commitment to high standards of integrity and social and environmental performance, as well as its ability to innovate, position us as a natural partner in the long term sustainable growth."

The 2010 report, related performance data and other content are available to users on the company's new citizenship website: www.gecitizenship.com. The site houses 300 pages of website content across all performance areas: Compliance & Governance, Environment, Health & Safety, Our Supplies, Our Customers, Our Products & Services, Our People, Human Rights, Our Communities and Public Policy. Restructured in line with the print report and re-designed with more interactive features, the site focuses on making corporate citizenship more accessible to a general audience. The navigation and contents have also been enhanced and optimized to be more search engine friendly.

"This report is part of our accountability process, and seeks to respond to stakeholders who want to know what GE is doing on particular issues, but also to show employees, shareowners, business partners and others in society how GE is investing for long-term value creation and sustainable growth," said Sam Nunn, chairman of the GE Board of Directors Public Responsibilities Committee. "I hope that the readers of this report will continue to test our thinking and collaborate with us as we continue to steward the company along this pathway."

Highlights in this year's report include:

Structured around discussions of GE's long term value creation, from how we understand global challenges, to our strategy to respond to them as a business, and to the processes, actions, commitments and metrics by which we manage and demonstrate performance. The report ends with an essay discussing how these impacts translate into financial performance, and whether this is recognized by capital markets
A ten-year retrospective, drawing on perspectives from our expert panel, and other thought leaders to understand the global sustainability context, and the expectations and opportunities for the future. A milestone timeline is included to reflect upon the evolvement of citizenship along with GE's own sustainability efforts.
List of key dilemmas and GE's values to address the challenges. GE Priority Matrix is introduced to highlight the areas where GE has an impact and ability to make a difference, either responded by its products and services or addressed by its business operations.
Expert perspectives from more than 20 global thought leaders on key issues, providing an external point-of-view on topics such as climate change, human rights, labor and supply chain.
These external perspectives are complemented by the perspectives of GE CEO Jeff Immelt, Board Member Sam Nunn, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Brackett Denniston, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship Bob Corcoran, and CEO of GE India John Flannery.
An engagement & decision making piece on how GE continually engages with its key stakeholders around the world to inform our priorities for citizenship as well as for product development

The report will be translated into 5-6 different languages. To order a copy of the 2010 GE Citizenship Report, visit http://www.gecitizenship.com/reporting/order-a-report/.

To sign up for more information about GE's corporate citizenship initiatives and practices, please visit http://www.genewscenter.com/webuser/register.asp.

GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified global infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world's toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services and health care solutions, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

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Roy Guo

Roy.guo@ge.com

Roy Guo

Roy.guo@ge.com

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