Responsibility to the Community

Environmental policies

Despite broadcast media’s relatively small impact on the environment, we believe tackling climate change is everyone’s responsibility and take it seriously. Our central environmental policy has been implemented in all of MTG’s offices. This policy outlines the two main ways in which we work to prevent environmental exploitation: by minimising the environmental impact of our own operations through implementing best practice in environmental management and by promoting positive environmental behaviour among our employees and customers. The policy also comprises concrete management and office level initiatives for a greener work environment, such as recycling, using energy saving light bulbs and switching off hardware devices when not in use.

Also the Group’s travel policy is very strict and green; we only travel to meetings if video conferencing is not an option. We installed new, improved video conferencing equipment in the beginning of 2009 to further enhance and increase the use of this environmentally friendly alternative. When travelling can’t be avoided, we prompt our employees to use public transport instead of taxis or private cars to get to the airport. Furthermore, we operate only a minimal number of company cars and all of our pool cars are chosen from environmentally friendly models.

Social & Environmental Programming

We seek to air programmes that present social and environmental issues constructively. One of our most popular genres is the so-called lifestyle makeover genre. We use specialists to assist people with different types of problems while also giving tips and inspiration to the public. Such programmes include our Swedish programmes Efterlyst (“Wanted”) that fights crime with the public’s help, and Lyxfällan (“Luxury Trap”), where professional advisers help families in debt to manage their finances.

One of our pay-TV channels, Viasat Nature, is dedicated to airing nature programmes and documentaries that show the vast diversity and beauty of our planet to encourage positive consumer behaviour. 14 hours a day are dedicated to this.

Defining our footprint

Last year we took the first steps to define the carbon emissions arising of our operations. Even though we don’t operate in a carbon intensive sector, it is still important that we understand how and to what extent our companies affect the environment. This information is crucial because we cannot strive to reduce something we don’t measure.

In 2008 we started by calculating the carbon emissions from office electricity usage and business air travel in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) and the UK. This year we are aiming to extend the scope of our carbon calculations by adding more countries of operation and also including more emission sources, such as company car fuel combustion. We will be reporting our 2009 emissions to the Carbon Disclosure Project during the first half of 2010.

Going green

MTG Radio in Sweden is our pioneer in green work, as they are currently aiming for the ISO 14001 certificate for their environmental management. The rest of MTG is going to implement best practice from Radio’s experiences and “go green” in all offices. We have already reduced our environmental footprint in Stockholm by building a new energy efficient head office for our Swedish businesses, according to the guidelines laid out by the European Union’s GreenBuilding Project. The new building’s energy consumption is 28% less than the levels required by Sweden’s National Board of Housing. 

Furthermore, we have appointed a Green Ambassador in each office, whose role is to train their local colleagues in green thinking and acting. The aim of the training is to make everyone at MTG aware of important environmental issues such as climate change, and to have everyone participate in creating a green action plan for their local office. Our Green Ambassadors will also be reporting centrally on environmental initiatives and their local office’s progress on the green path.

The Group’s 2008 Annual Report was produced as an online publication, with a limited number of printed copies. The Report has been made available on www.mtg.se, in order to avoid the unnecessary use of paper and printing machinery, as well as to avoid the environmental impact of distribution and eventual waste management.

Working with NGOs

MTG has a long tradition of working with local charities, including mental health organisations PsykiatriFonden in Denmark and Ozara in Slovenia, the Swedish cancer society Cancerfonden and WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) in several countries. We have focused our community initiatives on increasing awareness of chosen causes we consider particularly important, such as mental health, the environment, cancer research and children in need. By concentrating our support on fewer causes, we believe we can create stronger, meaningful relationships that can make a real difference in the communities around us. In 2008 we donated airtime worth more than 77 million Swedish krona and helped raise 56 million Swedish krona for various organisations.

We are collaborating with WWF in a number of countries to support and promote their initiatives for a healthier environment. In 2009 we participated in Earth Hour by switching off our five Swedish radio stations for an hour and organising an acoustic outdoor concert in Stockholm, alongside with broadcasting promotional spots for the initiative in various countries. In the summer of 2009 we supported WWF’s Baltic Sea project on our radio and TV platforms in Sweden. We will be focusing on these two causes also in 2010, and aim to have even more countries on board for a greater impact.