Environmental & Social Governance

Trends, Achievements & Priorities

Sustainability is central to our strategy and we recognise and consider the trends that shape and threaten our world.

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Identifying these trends is an important part of our business planning, not only so that we can determine emerging risks to the sustainability of our business, which is becoming increasingly important with the introduction of TCFD, but also so that we can identify opportunities to create value and make a positive impact.

Trends

Increased focus on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Increased focus on diversity and inclusion has become a priority, particularly when considering the divisions and inequality in society. We believe that whilst this is an area we as a business are morally obliged to focus on, which is highlighted by the work of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (Altogether AMS), it is recognised that companies that are more diverse and inclusive are more successful and sustainable.

Changing demographics

Demographic trends are changing as the global population is expected to rise to 10 billion people by 2050, with the proportion of over 60s expected to reach over 20%, up from 12% in 2015. This changing demographic, an accelerating increase in the move towards an aging population, requires businesses to be sustainable and provide products to meet the ever-increasing needs that this creates.

The rise of new technologies that are transforming the speed, power and location of work

The rise of new technologies is transforming the speed, power and location of work and research processes and poses an increased cyber security threat.

The role of companies in combating climate change

Companies are expected to play a role in reducing their emissions. Changing disease patterns and extreme weather events may present risks to our employees and supply chains, while the potential economic and geopolitical consequences of climate change may alter our commercial environment.

Achievements

  • We have developed our Pathway to Net Zero strategy and set a target of achieving Net Zero by 2045.
  • We have set interim targets for Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions for 2030. We will build on our Scope 3 analysis for 2022 with more in-depth data for 2023.
  • We have set targets in line with the approach outlined by SBTi and have started the process of validating these targets.
  • We identified further carbon reduction initiatives to minimise our environmental impact and will accelerate the implementation of these initiatives in the coming months, having made significant progress in 2022 with by, for example, eliminating F-gas losses and waste to landfill through better waste handling processes and waste contractor engagement and development of energy and climate change action plans.
  • We have created a Wellbeing Group at our Winsford site, with activites including walking, running, gardening, music and book clubs. This was well received and will be rolled out to other sites.
  • We are committed to being a diverse and inclusive employer with equality of opportunity irrespective of factors including sex, age, disability, race, religion and sexual orientation. To support this we have rolled out Unconscious Bias training, celebrated a number of cultural diversity days and launched our bi-annual Altogether AMS newsletter.
  • We continue to make progress on enhancing our supply chain practices. We have historically strong and long serving partners who are working with us as we continue to develop our ESG strategy and related policies.
  • We have initiated a project team focused on the recyclability of our packaging.
  • We have successfully concluded SMETA/SEDEX ethical audits for our Winsford and Plymouth, registered and provided data on the Ecovadis platform and maintained our AA MSCI ESG rating.

Priorities

Looking forward our priorities are to:

  • Continue to embed our ESG strategy across the business, further develop our ESG Steering Committee activities, monitoring our ESG metrics and continuing to make ESG a priority in our strategic and operational decision making.
  • Focus on the implementation of our Pathway to Net Zero strategy. We will also continue to deliver on the initiatives that drive carbon reduction across our business.
  • Accelerate the programme of initiatives to support our employees and communities.
  • Increase the profile and further develop our the work on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
  • Continue to focus on sustainability as part of new product development.
  • Engage our supply chain on a Code of Conduct and how we can reduce our Scope 3 emissions.
  • Report against TCFD for the first time.
  • Ensure we maintain strong Corporate Governance with all the relevant policies.