A citizen in the ecosystem
As a purpose-led organisation with a stated mission of “bettering humanity through technology”, we have long focussed on building technology that has a positive impact on society. Whether this is advocating for open-source software to ensure the industry fully benefits from innovation, defending the free internet, or driving the emergent practices of security and privacy by design – ethics and technology is a deeply rooted part of our culture.
It is no longer enough to simply build the right thing, and build the thing right. We must also consider the wider implications of the technology we build. That means taking responsibility for the unintended consequences we might unleash, to protect the long-term sustainability of our businesses, our brands and our society.
Six Pillars of Sustainability
Our Six Pillars of Sustainability framework was born as a response to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris agreement of 2016. The SDGs outline 17 audacious goals of which 193 nations have committed. From there we have distilled the subset where we believe we can contribute the most, and infused them with meaning that makes sense in our context.
The framework goes beyond regulatory compliance and shall remain a compass to where we will not bend, representing our fundamental ideas of human worth and ideals that we will not tolerate violated.
For our planet
We are committed to minimising our own impact on the planet, including our global greenhouse-gas emissions, the largest component of our environmental footprint. Through maintaining a very modest footprint ourselves and offsetting double what is truly necessary for our operations in climate investments in regenerative means Borderless maintains a climate positive standing. Our current climate portfolio investments include wind farms in Vietnam, methane repurposement in Thailand and solar power in India. All investments are UN verified green projects with Gold Standard verification.
For our dignity
Gender inequalities remain entrenched in every society and there are countless examples where non-diverse teams have created products that exclude entire sections of the community: voice recognition responding more effectively to male voices than female; facial recognition systems failing to recognise black faces; health care apps that ignore elderly health considerations. In Borderless we vow to treat every human as equal, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, faith and sexuality. Not because it is simply the right thing to do, but because it is good business.
For our people
Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being at all ages is essential to sustainable development. In Borderless people are our most important asset, yet regional differences in legislation and quality of service put the healthcare of our employees and their families at a possible and potentially greatly costly personal risk. This is not acceptable to us and we take every measure to ensure the free and fair healthcare of all employees, regardless of location and position.
For our future
Obtaining a quality education is the foundation allowing individuals to build fulfilling lives, and for business to retain a skilled workforce. To us, education is vital because it leads to higher-value occupations and the knowledge workers we yearn to make our ends meet. Our efforts in education are targeted to the higher echelon, through university donations, student grants and guest lecturing to support the education of our youth.
For our peace
Over 150 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. To us, privacy and information security is a fundamental right, essential to autonomy and the protection of human dignity, serving as the foundation upon which many other human rights are built. Ensuring the utmost measures are made to secure the discretion of our people isn’t just the regulatory law – it’s good practice.
For our liberty
For many people corruption is not a choice, it is an expected passage to get things done. Nevertheless, corruption corrodes the fabric of society. It undermines people’s trust in political and economic systems, institutions and leaders. It can cost people their freedom, health, money – and sometimes their lives. Operating in some of the regrettably more corrupt countries of our world we need to take a bold stand against corruption, instilling an absolute zero-tolerance. Borderless vows to never engage in corruption or collusion of any kind.