At Cameco our sustainable development report plays an important role in helping us communicate with our key stakeholders, monitor and measure our performance, and ensure accountability.

Why sustainable development?

We are confident in the business case for sustainable development. As we see it, sustainable development is a management philosophy and process that helps us:

• build trust, credibility and corporate reputation;
• gain and protect our licence to operate and grow;
• attract and retain employees;
• manage risk; and
• direct innovation and drive continual improvement to build competitive advantage.

Our ability to move forward on these objectives determines our ultimate success as a company.

Why commit?

Sustainable development simply makes good business sense. We have begun to better understand our impact on the world, to think differently, to behave differently, and to come up with innovative courses of action.

So have our competitors and many other companies. In fact, we are all learning from each other and pushing each other to improve.

This critical mass of companies committed to sustainable development could make a world of difference. The more companies engaged in sustainable development, the more likely we are to offer greater opportunities to future generations.

What is the impact on business strategy and goals?

Companies are under scrutiny for the way in which they conduct business. We have seen a significant increase in our stakeholder expectations of environmentally and socially responsible business practices.

Rather than viewing sustainable development as an "add-on" to traditional business activity, we see it as an integral component to the way we do business. Our aim is to fully integrate sustainable development principles and practices at each level of our operations.

For each of our strategies, we set and evaluate the business goals, plans, tactics, and performance measures to stimulate the change we need to see. These performance measures are included in our sustainable development scorecard.

Does this mean we're sustainable?

We see our sustainable development programs and reporting as a work in progress. We don't believe that it will ever be possible for us to say, "That's it, we are sustainable now."

The needs of our stakeholders will continue to evolve as will our own awareness of them and of the possible strategies for action. Our commitment is to continue to engage and work with our stakeholders to ensure we stay abreast of evolving sustainable development issues, innovations, concerns, and challenges.