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Contents Foreword Management report Corporate governance
Consolidated Financial Statements
Company Financial Statements
Pillar 3
The general public
Rabobank measures how the Dutch public perceives its
sustainable performance using, among others, the Social
Image Monitor - an initiative of the Hope Glory agency
which performs the research in cooperation with Motivaction.
Participants in the 2016 study were presented with the
following Rabobank goals and asked to state the degree to
which they found these suitable or recognisable for Rabobank:
Main goal: Contribution to sustainable development in
the Netherlands,
Four subgoals related to 'sustainable agriculture and food
supply'and 'vital communities':
1 stimulating the sustainability of agriculture and food supply
in the world,
2 helping food agri companies that are customers of
Rabobank be economically successful,
3 supporting local and social initiatives with manpower,
knowledge and money, and
4 supporting farmers and small businesses in developing
countries.
KPI: By 2020,80% of the Dutch public should associate
Rabobank with sustainability in a positive way, along with at
least one of the following topics: sustainable agriculture and
a sustainable food supply, and vital communities.
Results
In of the Dutch public
2020
(n=478)
2016
2015
2014
target
Positive association with
sustainability
44
42
80
who found the statement
'Rabobank contributes to
Appropriate
75
72
sustainable development
in the Netherlands' to be
'(very) appropriate'/'(very)
recognisable'
Recognisable
44
42
who found that at least
one of the four stated aims
Appropriate
88
85
80
for sustainable agriculture
and food supply and/or
vital communities to be
'(very) appropriate'/'(very)
recognisable'
Recognisable
70
67
61
Rating categories of the two different questions:
Not appropriate, poorly appropriate, neutral, reasonably appropriate,
very appropriate - don't know/no opinion
Very unrecognisable, unrecognisable, neutral, recognisable, very
recognisable - don't know/no opinion
This was the second time we measured the main goal of
contributing to sustainable development in the Netherlands
and, excluding those who answered 'do not know', 44%
indicated they found this recognisable for Rabobank. This is
an increase of 2% compared to the previous year.
The end goal for 2020 is 80%. Notwithstanding our ongoing
efforts to strengthen Rabobank's reputation with sustainability
practices and impact, we need to acknowledge that the bar of
80% in 2020 is ambitious and requires additional efforts.
In total four aims were defined for the social themes sustainable
agriculture, food supply and vital communities. The percentage
of respondents that found at least one of the four aims suitable
and/or recognisable (excluding those who answered 'do not
know') increased in 2016 when compared to the previous year
by 3% each. An impressive 88% thought at least 1 of 4 goals
was suitable. This strengthens our idea that the social themes in
SST are the right ones for Rabobank.
Social debate
As a cooperative bank, Rabobank aims to help its clients
achieve their ambitions in and for a sustainable society.
We have continuous dialogues with our stakeholders to keep
in touch with what the public needs and to collect their input.
We use this input to improve our sustainability policies and
develop internal tools such as the expert opinion procedure1
to manage our sustainability risks better. With regard to social
welfare organisations, a list of debated topics and the outcome
of discussions is included in Appendix 4, covering various
sustainability matters, including land rights, livestock farming
and the palm oil supply chain.
Public debate on food-related issues
Rabobank's Banking for Food vision shows we want to play
a prominent role in the public debate on the broad issue
of food. Our networks allow us to connect producers with
consumers. Our knowledge allows us to actively participate in
roundtables on sustainability within select agribusiness value
chains worldwide. And our ability to offer access to financing
allows us to help our customers integrate solutions into
their operations.
In cooperating with innovative customers and social partners
on ambitious sustainability projects, our hope is they will work
to inspire others to increase sustainability in their own value
chains. We aspire to combine added value for the client with
an acceleration of sustainability measures in global agribusiness
and food.
Acting on our belief that sustainability knowledge is a valuable
form of support for the F&A sector, in 2016, we participated
in 9 roundtables and operated within 10 value chains.
The knowledge gained from these activities was shared with
customers in the form of events, reports and client meetings.
1 See chapter Working with clients on sustainability Risks and
opportunities - expert opinion
74 Rabobank Annual Report 2016
