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Corporate Social Responsibility - What we do

our approach

At Arval, we take our responsibilities seriously. Whether that’s supporting our people, lending a helping hand in the communities where we live and work, doing all we can to make our customers’ lives easier, educating young people or helping  to tackle climate change. And with all the challenges that 2020 had in store for us, these things are now more important than ever before.

That’s why Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a vital part of our business and we’re extremely proud of the positive contribution we make. Our CSR work is split into four key areas: The Economy, Our Community, Our People and The Environment. And, as part of the BNP Paribas Group, we also support the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals - the blueprint to achieving a more sustainable future for everyone.
 

We don’t usually like to blow our own trumpet. But because we’re proud of our achievements, when it comes to CSR, we’re happy to shout about it from the rooftops! So here are just a few examples of what we’ve been up to in 2019 and 2020…

Our purpose

Watch our video about our company purpose and what that means in terms of our mission and ethics

 

Economy

Arval is fully committed to operating in an economically ethical way. To support energy transition, we focus on developing sustainable products, services and tools for our customers that will help them to make better decisions when it comes to assessing their own environmental impact.

  • In partnership with BNP Paribas and the Hydrogen Hub, we launched our new education programme in schools across the UK, with a focus on teaching the next generation of drivers all about hydrogen and fuel cell technology. To date, our Hydrogen Fuel Cell lesson plan has been downloaded by teachers over 25,000 times!
  • By simply switching to buying our coffee through the fantastic social enterprise Change Please, we literally change lives, giving a homeless person safe and warm accommodation.  Change Please employ and train the homeless to be baristas through their 17 locations in London, and they also support their staff with housing, bank accounts and wellbeing – find out more about this brilliant initiative https://changeplease.org/.
  • Our Hydrogen Roadshow set off on a tour of four UK cities to share our industry-leading expertise in hydrogen cars. We’re part of a Swindon-based project called the Hydrogen Hub, which researches the viability of fuel cell technology for a range of domestic, commercial and transport applications in real-world conditions https://www.hydrogenhub.org/.

our community

We’re great believers in giving something back and making a positive impact in our communities  - and our people are always ready, willing and able to get involved. That’s why we support a whole host of good causes through community education programmes, fundraising and volunteering.

  • Our brilliant employees raised over £2,500 for BBC Children in Need in a BNP Paribas UK wide #RunPudsey challenge. And thanks to more fundraising from over 180 staff across the UK and a generous top-up, BNP Paribas UK raised a whopping £30,000 for BBC Children In Need. What a fantastic team effort!
  • We made sure that over 3,000 children didn’t go hungry over the October half term break, thanks to our £5,000 donation to the Swindon Wildcats in the Community initiative to provide lunches to kids who would normally get a free school dinner.
  • Over 430 of our fantastic Journey Makers gave up 2,850 hours of their time to volunteer for good causes close to their hearts.
  • And, on top of that, through donations, sponsorship and fundraising, our charitable impact exceeded  £100,000 that has helped over 30 charities in the UK.
  • We’ve been supporting the Safe Drive, Stay Alive road safety roadshow, organised by Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue service, for over a decade – and each year, this powerful show is delivered to over 14,000 students in schools and colleges across Dorset and Wiltshire.
  • We’re proud to have provided 23 vehicles to the NHS and charities across the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic to use free of charge to support vulnerable people in their communities.

Our People

ban the boxWe know that the success of our company depends on our people. We want to attract the right mix of skills, talent and diversity, create a healthy and safe working environment and provide our employees with all of the opportunities, training and motivation they need to be the best that they can be.

  • We wanted to open up the conversation about diversity and inclusion. So we launched our own Diversity & Inclusion working group and ran workshops covering a whole host of topics including PRIDE and Parenting.
  • We conquered health & wellbeing events like the Three Peaks Challenge. And our fantastic new Arval Choir kept our spirits high through lockdown by serenading us with some fabulous songs – all in a socially distanced way of course!
  • In 2020, our dedicated Mental Health First Aiders continued to bend over backwards to make Arval a safe place where employees can talk freely about their experiences. Mental Health Week kicked off with the theme ‘Mental Health Matters’ and our people were encouraged to share their personal stories.
  • We launched our Parent and Carer working group to help shape our policies as well as to ensure a support network is available as and when needed.
  • We are proud to be a #BantheBoxUK employer, reducing barriers to employment for people with criminal records.

environment

socotec certification international iso 14001We take our ISO 14001 environmental accreditation very seriously, setting targets to reduce the impact of our business on the environment. We’re always looking at ways we can reduce, reuse, recycle and minimise our carbon footprint, as well as helping our customers on the energy transition.

We offer hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles so that our customers, their drivers and our employees can choose vehicles that limit their environmental impact whilst still meeting their needs. We’ve seen a rapid increase in the number of alternatively fuelled vehicles being adopted by fleets and drivers alike, all helping to lessen the impact on the environment. In fact, the number of customer orders for electric vehicles in 2020 increased by over 380% compared to 2019, as the energy transition and our role in it really moved up a gear. 

  • We were delighted to win the Business Leaders award for our Electric Vehicle strategy and the Business Car Magazine award for Best Green Initative. We’ve got ambitious plans on this front - by 2025, Arval Group want to reach  500,000 electrified vehicles leased worldwide.
  • We delivered climate action presentations to staff across the UK from the Al Gore Climate Reality Academy, to raise awareness about climate change, as well as to provide an opportunity to look at the impact and the solutions. And we also wanted to encourage staff to make small changes that can help reduce their carbon footprint. After all, every little helps!
  • Because we practice what we preach, we installed electric vehicle charging points at all of our UK offices to make it easier for our staff to make the switch to electric vehicles.
  • As part of our road-to-zero commitment, we have introduced a new company car policy for our own employees that allows them to switch out of diesel or petrol cars and into an EV after 18 months of their 3-year agreement.  As a result, around 80% of our own internal fleet is now electrified!
  • By phasing out all single-use plastic and recycling crisp packets and coffee pods, we saved a very impressive 110 tonnes of CO2.

An Overview of 2022

As the old saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. So, here are just a few examples of how we made a difference last year. Click the images below to view our UK CSR Report, or CSR infographic, or read our global CSR Report here here

 

 

BNP Paribas

We’re part of the BNP Paribas Group, which means we’re proud to play a key role in supporting the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals that are the blueprint to achieving a better and more sustainable future for all. The Goals work together to address the wide range of global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice.