The PGNiG Capital Group companies and branches have been active for years in the fields of corporate responsibility and sustainable growth with regard to the markets, jobs, local communities and natural environment. Since 2005, the PGNiG's Ignacy Łukasiewicz Memorial Foundation has also been active, working mostly on equal educational opportunities programs for children and youth. In 2008, PGNiG announced its new business strategy for the Capital Group until 2015. This gave the Group an impulse to prepare and implement a Sustainable Growth Strategy as well. ‘By implementing the corporate social responsibility strategy in the PGNiG Capital Group, we would like to insure the coherence of our mission with the business, social and environmental aims in all fields of our activities and to better shape and monitor our impact on the environment', says Michał Szubski, President of the Management Board of PGNiG SA.

We hope that by picking up that important topic, the PGNiG Capital Group, whose activities portfolio involves resource exploration, production, sales and distribution, will initiate a broader debate on the challenges and opportunities related to the sustainable growth of the entire Polish energy sector. We consider the cooperation with the responsible Business Forum as both an opportunity to access CSR know-how and tools to serve our Group as well as a chance to share our experience with the sector.

The ceremony was held at the conference at which the "Responsible business in Poland 2008" report was announced. The report is an annual publication by the Responsible Business Forum which provides a summary of initiatives by Polish companies in implementing the corporate responsibility practices. The first review of Polish CSR projects was published in 2003 and pertained to the events in 2002. This is the seventh issue of the report. This year, the reviewed good CSR practices included two initiatives of the PGNiG Capital Group - ‘PGNiG Bezpieczne Mazury' (‘PGNiG Safe Masuria Region') and an ‘ABC of Ecology for Employees' - a project implemented by Pomorska Spółka Gazownictwa.

Among the participants in the panel discussion titled ‘Could the financial crisis help define the genuine responsible business?', held at the today's meeting of the Responsible Business Forum, were Dr Stanisław Kluza - Head of the Financial Supervision Authority, Dr Ryszard Bugaj - Economic Advisor to the President of the Republic of Poland and Grażyna Henclewska - Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Economy.

The mission of the Forum of Responsible Business is to spread the corporate responsibility standards among the Polish companies in order to improve the business competitiveness, social welfare and the environmental conditions. The Forum of Responsible Business is the first and only nongovernmental organization in Poland to provide in-depth focus on the concept of corporate social responsibility. The Forum is a public benefit organisation, established in 2000.