Sustainability Strategy: 2020 Goals
We understand that all our stakeholders — investors, customers, employees and the people who live in communities where we
operate — expect us to achieve short-term results without compromising long-term prosperity. It’s not enough for us to say
we are sustainable; we must be able to prove it with responsible governance, reliable systems and demonstrated progress
toward tangible goals.
In 2010, we adopted a comprehensive sustainability strategy, based on benchmarking, gap analysis, and leadership engagement.
This strategy built upon our past sustainability performance with an expanded set of commitments that were integrated into
our business planning and processes. For each commitment, we set specific targets to achieve by 2020, which are described
in the goals and progress section of this website. Annually,
we report on our progress against these targets.
All our commitments and targets are organized under our three pillars of sustainability — performance, people and planet.
Our company vision prominently highlights these critical areas, our
businesses incorporate them into performance dashboards, and our online sustainability report reflects their importance.
METHODOLOGY
We undertook the strategy development during 2010 to improve upon our existing sustainability program.
The underlying belief supporting this work was that a more comprehensive sustainability strategy, with stronger governance
that drives sustainability deeper into our business processes, would enable us to better deliver value, innovate, and compete
in the years ahead.
We started our strategy development with the sustainability expectations outlined in the Ceres report "The 21st Century Corporation: The Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability." The report details twenty specific
expectations and actions for companies to successfully integrate sustainability into business by 2020. For each expectation,
we established a spectrum of four levels of achievement (no or minimal action; industry average; above average; Ceres expectation).
We also added a few expectations to the Ceres set based on areas that are of continued focus for us as a company, such as
safety and philanthropy.
Our next step was to evaluate ourselves, as well as 11 other companies, against each sustainability expectation along the
four-tier spectrum. Our benchmarking pool included peer companies from our industry and companies generally regarded as
sustainability thought leaders (for example, other companies included on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index). Our evaluation
of each of these companies was based on publicly available information.
Finally, we vetted the results of this benchmarking review with internal subject matter experts in areas ranging from governance
to energy management.
BENCHMARKING & ANALYSIS RESULTS
The results of this exercise showed that Weyerhaeuser compared favorably to our direct industry peers (i.e. competitors)
but had some opportunities for improvement when compared to companies considered sustainability leaders.
Areas of excellence included public policy activities that are strategic, consistent and transparent; board oversight of
sustainability; and transparency around sustainability disclosures. Areas identified as opportunities for improvement included
meeting our financial targets; fully integrating sustainability into policies and decision making; engaging our employees;
and adopting a broader set of company-wide environmental goals.
Mid-level and senior company management were engaged throughout the process.
STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT
Based on these benchmarking results, we assessed our options for addressing gaps or improving existing practices. For each
potential action, we reviewed the business case, identified internal resources required, and sought input from internal
subject matter experts. We then engaged mid-level and senior management in reviewing and discussing potential action items
to include in our sustainability strategy. Once we established a set of agreed-upon commitments and goals, our senior management
team and board of directors governance committee approved the strategy, which lays out
19 sustainability commitments with 42 goals and metrics associated with the commitments. We are working toward achieving these targets by
the year 2020.
MOVING FORWARD
A significant first step was the board of directors governance committee decision to modify its charter. The committee is
now titled “Governance and Corporate Responsibility,” has more direct oversight and engagement over our sustainability strategy,
and will be briefed at least annually on our progress toward our sustainability goals. This change addressed one of the
gaps identified during our benchmarking review.
We also incorporated our three pillars of sustainability — performance, people and planet — into our company vision, business
performance scorecards, and a number of other critical business planning processes. In 2011, we already achieved some of
our sustainability targets such as introducing the strategy to our employees through a series of employee forums, adopting
a product stewardship policy, and certifying our headquarters building to the Green Globes system.
Companywide Focus areas in 2012 include:
- Integration of sustainability goals into salaried employees' individual performance management plans
- Further integration of sustainability considerations into business processes, such as capital and expense planning
- Roll-out of sustainability training by all employees with goal of 100% participation by the end of 2013
- Further identification of business-specific sustainability goals by individual businesses and functional support areas
TRANSPARENCY AND FEEDBACK
We are committed to communicating openly and transparently in a way that facilitates access to and the use of information.
We welcome your input and feedback on our sustainability strategy and encourage you to explore the full sustainability section of our website.
