CSC for sustainable development
CSC for sustainable development
The goal of sustainable development is to arrange people's economic and material activities in a way that preserves natural diversity so that future generations will also have the possibilities for a good life. CSC has four major themes for sustainable development, which we apply in all our activities. With them we aim to do our part to in guiding global development in a direction that maintains the carrying capacity of nature, as well-being and economic activities increase.
CSC for climate
In our own activities we seek to reduce our carbon footprint. We work to promote a green transformation - giving up fossil-based sources of energy. We do this primarily through our carbon neutral data centre. We also seek to be actively influential in different networks which promote solutions to climate questions. Much background research will be needed for these changes to take place.
Promoting ecological sustainability is based on following the precautionary principle. Under the principle, risks, harm, and cost should be evaluated before the measures are implemented. Scientific research can help us understand cause-and-effect relationships between phenomena, the private sector can help in finding solutions, and societal decision-making can help in establishing a foundation of regulations for ecological sustainability. Therefore, the public and private sectors must work together well. The role of CSC is to produce skills and knowledge, infrastructure, programming skills, and other facilities to help researchers do their research. This is where the main idea of our vision – together we build – is implemented. CSC is not alone in its work on behalf of the climate: CSC works together with researchers, developers, and innovators.
For prospering customers
Success for our customers is another goal that we have for sustainable development. This might seem self-evident – every company says that its customers are central to their activities and that they operate in their best interest. Our role is nevertheless unique. We are an organization with special tasks. While not seeking a profit, we serve research, education, public administration, promoting their cooperation, and their cooperation with business. Successful customers are therefore a strong presence in what really is wanted from us. Our owners, the Finnish State, and institutions of higher education, want success for our customers and for our society.
For example, we serve researchers to enable them to solve big research questions, such as challenges connected with climate change, health and illness, and energy production. We serve actors in education in the many kinds of paths of learning and many opportunities that Finland has for people to develop themselves. We serve public administration by using digitalisation to build equitable solutions that serve society and conserve nature.
With all these measures we do our part to increase Finland's carbon handprint.
Ethical business
Ethical business is not a choice for us – it is part of our DNA. We are funded by tax revenue, and for that reason we must be transparent, honest, and responsible in all our activities, and our services must be accessible.
Ethical business means that all our services and activities – either internal or taking place on the customer interface – are carried out ethically, and our work with stakeholders must be friendly and honest. Our financial management must also be transparent and responsible.
CSC's Code of Conduct is the guideline for our ethical activities. It defines how people at CSC are expected to operate as CSCers. All our employees, our Managing Director, and the CSC Board of Directors are committed to the code. It is important for us for our entire value chain to be on an ethically sustainable foundation. For that reason, we also assume, and require that our suppliers should operate under the same values that we do.
CSC's ethical business operation can be encapsulated in our core values: We advance expertise as a community with assurance and integrity.
Empowered employees
CSC cannot operate without the people who work at CSC. We can have many kinds of automated processes and operating methods, but there are people behind all of them: someone's thought, someone's fingerprint. Without people, nothing would happen at CSC. That is why our fourth sustainable development theme applies to the people at CSC – the people who CSC is made of.
The basic issues of well-being at work must function properly for people to be enthusiastic about their work. Therefore, CSC puts great effort into maintaining an open, talkative, and playful operating culture that is open to discussion. Recreation is active and there are many shared activities. We try to ensure that our services for well-being at work, such as our occupational health services, are in excellent shape. We also put effort into giving people the possibility to learn and develop in their careers and to find meaning in their work. Modern and comfortable office premises support both immersion in the pull of the work as well as more informal interaction with colleagues, over coffee for example.
We also monitor well-being at work in many ways, and what kinds of feelings we get at work. Each year we conduct surveys to determine the thoughts, hopes, coping at work, and motivation of our personnel, and we develop operations based on the results. Our goal is for CSC to always be a fair and open workplace where it is good for people to be. People need to feel good at their work if they are to feel fulfilled and to utilise their full potential. Well-being is important, not just for our own sake, but also because Finnish research and society need to do well.