This year, MTR Corporation holds a unique position amongst our peer group of global reporters. The 2007 year, in addition to meeting performance expectations, posed the singular challenge of preparing for a major corporate merger under sustainable best practice.
Our theme, building capability, guides this Report citing the initiatives undertaken during the year to advance the principles of sustainability and to leverage the scalability of skills and management systems in order to direct and grow the organisation. This applies to both ongoing operations and the year's transition planning for the merger.
We continue our dialogue on best practices, measuring the year's progress in social, economic and environmental stewardship under our Sustainable Competitive Advantage model and the Maturity Matrix developed in accordance with British Standard's Guidance for Managing Sustainable Development (BS8900:2006). In addition, we highlight the introduction of the Corporation's Climate Change Policy and its practical application within operations.
We also introduce by way of a case study a predictive-corrective methodology to explore a valid framework that institutionalises sustainability in context of a corporate merger. Discussions examine how the Sustainable Competitive Advantage model synthesises the merger process and how the Company's sustainable development process may operate in future.
Our internet site, www.mtr.com.hk/sustainability, supports this document with extensive data, webcasts and information as well as addressing the implementation of management directives under our identified six sustainability drivers. The purpose is to demonstrate how sustainable best practices are cascaded down and across the organisation. Online information that augments this Report is linked to cited external organisations on the relevant pages.
To maintain continuity in reporting, we have elected in 2007 to remain with the GRI - 2002 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines for our last year in operating as the pre-merger MTR Corporation. We have continued to retain PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct assurance on our reporting exercise. As in previous years, they focus on the critical social and environmental responsibilities and economic contributions of the Corporation. Their independent assurance report is here in the Report.
It is our hope that this Report will serve as a reference tool and practical guide in sustainable development for organisations that are facing substantial change through mergers or significant acquisitions of assets. To our knowledge MTR Corporation is one of the first to publicly disclose the testing of the principles of sustainability in a merger/acquisition environment. We seek to establish a dialogue with readers on our efforts to address this challenge.
The Corporation values stakeholders' feedback. You serve as independent sources of information and a constructive critique on how we report and what areas are in need of our attention. We encourage your feedback to help us better deliver the information you seek. Contact the Head of Sustainability Development, sdmngr@mtr.com.hk, for further information or any queries in regard to this Report and our online discussions.
