SONI (the Electricity Transmission System Operator for Northern Ireland) is proud to announce that we have been accredited to CORE for the first time. CORE is Northern Ireland’s only standard for responsible business, and is certified by Business in the Community Northern Ireland. SONI has been awarded CORE at the standard level.

About CORE

The CORE process involved examining all areas of our business through a corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability lens. This allows us to recognise areas of best practice and to provide a baseline for continuous improvement. To be awarded CORE, SONI had to demonstrate a clear strategic commitment to responsible management of key business areas including: responsible leadership, stakeholder engagement, people development, equality, diversity and inclusion, resource efficiency, energy and transport, biodiversity, and, community engagement.

Thirty companies across Northern Ireland currently hold CORE.

Our CORE accreditation is a third-party validation that responsible business practices are not exclusively limited to our core function and are embedded across the company. In further support of this, SONI was named a ‘Responsible Business Champion’ by Business in the Community Northern Ireland in 2020 for our community outreach and engagement on our grid development projects, as well as for our Book Trust NI partnership which helps to promote literacy.

Alan Campbell, SONI MD said: ‘Receiving CORE accreditation for the first time is important validation that SONI’s programme of work to embed CSR and sustainability across the business is achieving its objectives. Alongside our purpose to ‘Transform the power system for future generations’ it firmly places us amongst Northern Ireland’s leading responsible companies. I am very proud of each of my SONI colleagues; their collaborative efforts, and high standard of work across the business, which has resulted in us achieving this accolade.’

Kieran Harding, Business in the Community Northern Ireland MD said: 'We’re delighted that SONI has been successful in achieving CORE: The Standard for Responsible Business. Achieving the standard is a public endorsement of SONI’s commitment to corporate responsibility and sustainability. The standard is designed to ensure an organisation has a coherent and strategic approach to responsible business and it’s brilliant to see SONI excelling in that regard.'