Your Society has been recognised as a leader in the field of business – especially with regards to sustainability, responsibility and community – by the Jersey Good Business Charter.

The Jersey Good Business Charter is a standard awarded to businesses in Jersey in recognition of their commitment to good corporate citizenship and responsible business practices in all that they do. The Charter aims to celebrate the Jersey business community as a force for good.

To apply for the Charter, businesses have to focus on five key areas including the environment, supply chain and employees. The Good Business Council said they were impressed with your Society’s ‘unique and radical’ dividend scheme that is offered to its 120,000 members.

Highlights of the Society’s application included that it spends £11 million annually with local suppliers, is one of the largest employers in Jersey and last year alone donated more than £250,000 to good causes across the Channel Islands.

Mark Cox, acting chief executive officer for the Society, said: ‘We are delighted to have been awarded the Jersey Good Business Charter standard level award and be recognised as ‘genuine leaders in the field’. We are a community retailer, owned by our members, and are committed to being sustainable, responsible and community focussed and it’s fantastic to see all the hard work recognised by the council. 

‘Protecting our local environment is high on our agenda and we implemented a number of changes last year to better our environmental credentials. We introduced two Classic Herd milk dispensers in Grand Marché St Helier – removing the need for hundreds of plastic bottles. We also rolled out an energy monitoring system in stores to help us react to any issues to reduce energy wastage. Plus, more recently, we have installed electric car charge points at Grand Marché St Peter.

‘Now we have received the Jersey Good Business Charter standard level, we will strive to receive the silver status by continuing to improve our engagement with the local community, decrease our impact on the environment, invest in our people and build our relationship with local suppliers.’

Last year we celebrated our 100^th birthday. We marked the milestone by running the 100 Day Community Challenge and launching the brand new Belonging Fund, which benefitted a number of local charities chosen by Co-op colleagues. It is also planting 100 trees and shrubs in both Jersey and Guernsey this year.

Jersey Good Business Council chairman, Brendan McMahon said: ‘I know that the Jersey Good Business Council have been examining applications with great seriousness and rigor, looking for strong evidence of credible commitment to the principles of good business in each of the five areas of the Charter. For The Channel Islands Co-operative Society to come out on the other side as a Charter Awardee is a significant achievement of which the whole business should be proud. The Co-op is a genuine leader in the field and it is doing a great deal to raise standards across the whole business sector.'