ESG at CIRI
Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) is a fundamental part of CIRI’s values, history and commitment. We actively seek ways to cultivate our efforts to advance our corporation for the benefit of Alaska Native people. From governance, strategic investments, and partnerships to the benefits and resources we provide our Shareholders and Descendants, communities, and employees, we strive to be accountable and transparent.
WE ARE THE ORIGINAL ESG CORPORATION
Our Story Is One of Strength and Sustainability
For thousands of years Alaska Native people lived an independent subsistence lifestyle in the Arctic. Respect for the land, wildlife and helping neighbors navigate one of the world’s harshest environments has been essential to the survival of Alaska Native people.
Through stories and actions, Alaska Native people passed ingenuity and traditional values from one generation to the next. Elders taught lessons of adaptability with the changing seasons, resiliency with changing circumstances, and sustainability with food sources to the next generation. Additionally, Alaska Native people understood the importance of community – both its cover of strength and safety and every person’s unique contribution to foster a successful whole.
Today, these traditional skills and values are become foundational to CIRI’s success.
Looking Forward
As CIRI looks to the future, we stay rooted in values and practices that have served Alaska Native people, our organization, our community, and our planet well: planning for different seasons, using resources sustainably, diversity, equity and inclusion, building community, and treating others with respect and care.
CIRI strives to be an environmentally responsible global citizen and support clean energy initiatives. Because good citizenship starts in “our own back yard”, CIRI constructed a LEED Gold certified office building for our corporate headquarters, uses environmentally friendly cleaning products and sponsors a recycling program for its employees.
While fossil fuels remain a critical energy source, CIRI is powering towards a clean energy future through ownership of Fire Island Wind, LLC. and investments in other sustainable energy projects across the country.
CIRI is Southcentral Alaska’s largest private landowner with approximately 1.3 million acres of subsurface land in Alaska and additional real estate holdings throughout the United States. Entrusted with some of the richest and most delicate lands in Alaska, CIRI takes its stewardship seriously and prioritizes a balance between responsible resource development to improve opportunities for our Shareholders and protecting the land for future generations. As part of our commitment, we enforce strict anti-degradation clauses and fire prevention mitigants to preserve CIRI lands.
Shareholders: Diversity and Commitment
Virtually every Alaska Native group is represented among our nearly 9,300 Shareholders. With so many diverse peoples coming together, there was skepticism of CIRI’s ability to succeed as a unified organization. CIRI is committed to bettering the lives of our Shareholders and Descendants and takes an active role in creating services and programs to care for Alaska Native people.
Since CIRI’s inception we have paid over $1 billion in cumulative cash distributions to our Shareholders and Elders. Other impactful ways we support our Shareholders are through:
- Priority access to CIRI lands for subsistence hunting and gathering
- Hire preference
- Programs to support youth, cultural, professional development and education initiatives benefitting Shareholders and their Descendants
- Tribal relations advocacy with the federal government.
Employees: Diversity and Inclusion
CIRI’s success and sustainability are directly related to our team’s commitment to the work we do and upholding CIRI’s values. We take pride in the fact that our employees know we see them and CIRI cares about them. We believe providing employees a safe working environment, compensating a living wage, rewarding excellence, competitive insurance programs, and contributing to their retirement planning and education will result in a better life for them, their families, and the communities in which they live.
CIRI has embraced the rich history and diversity of our Shareholders and embodied the power of diversity, equity and inclusion into our workforce, management and our Board of Directors. Our diversity is key to our to a strong innovative team.
See CIRI’s employee and Board diversity metrics here:
Community:
CIRI believes in helping to build a strong and safe community where opportunity and prosperity are available for all. CIRI embraces its responsibility to support the organizations that that focus on Alaska Native culture and heritage, homelessness, hunger, health, youth and education.
CIRI is committed to social responsibility. It’s part of our mission. CIRI helped to establish and supports a family of socially driven enterprises that provide health care, housing, employment, education, access to justice and other social and cultural enrichment services for Alaska Natives and others. To learn more about these organizations, please visit our socially driven enterprises page.
CIRI also supports charitable organizations in the Cook Inlet region and participates in fundraising events throughout the year. Through a combination of strategic relationships with local nonprofits, our business partnership school, the annual CIRI Golf Classic, volunteer activities and other community investments, CIRI strengthens the health and well-being of its neighbors.
CIRI’s team of dedicated employees play an active role in improving their community. CIRI employees give directly to charities, serve on the boards of local community organizations and participate in CIRI-led campaigns. An active community leader in the annual United Way of Anchorage campaign, CIRI and its employees have pledged over $2 million to the organization through the years.
To learn more about CIRI’s philanthropy policy or to apply for a donation, visit our giving guidelines page.
CIRI does the right things right, basing our standards and practices on the highest levels of ethics and compliance. From our employees to the Board of Directors, all team members are expected to comply with our compliance, ethics and business policies as well as applicable local, state, and federal laws. CIRI’s financial stewardship is closely monitored through our Board, professional third-party audits, and external executive compensation consultants. Further, we engage in regular evaluation of our investment strategies to ensure CIRI remains innovative and is well positioned for the long term.
Managing risk is vital to our organization’s business continuity and overall sustainability. CIRI has adopted an Enterprise Risk Management program to regularly identify, rate, and monitor critical organizational risks to enhance our resilience in risk environments. Cyber Security is a critical part of our risk management efforts to protect our assets, data, employees and Shareholders through preventative measures, incident management plans, audits, policies/procedures, employee training and regular monitoring. Through the program, all employees are empowered to analyze work-related risks a part of our CIRI culture.
