Case study: How Edelmann Group promotes sustainability among its suppliers
Edelmann Group is an international family business operating in the paper-based packaging sector, represented by 16 sites in 9 different countries, spread over 4 continents. Edelmann Group’s valued suppliers are its key strategic partners who support it in achieving better results, improving the know-how and driving innovation. Accordingly, Edelmann Group demands its suppliers to follow its sustainability principles through policies, business reviews and action plans. Tweet This!
This case study is based on the 2020 Sustainability Report by Edelmann Group, prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards, that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Edelmann Group has a long-standing relationship with its key suppliers, based on trust, transparency, and mutual interest towards a better future, ensuring Edelmann Group’s strong sustainability performance. In order to promote sustainability among its suppliers Edelmann Group took action to:
- implement a Supplier Code of Conduct
- evaluate suppliers
- establish a new process of digital supplier approval
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Edelmann Group has identified;
- How Edelmann Group proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Edelmann Group to promote sustainability among its suppliers
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2020 Sustainability Report Edelmann Group identified a range of material issues, such as energy and GHG emissions, employee training and development, raw materials, diversity. Among these, promoting sustainability among its suppliers stands out as a key material issue for Edelmann Group.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Edelmann Group engages with:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Employees and management
| · Regular internal meetings · Career development discussions · Trainings · Company events · Newsletters · Employee Suggestion Programme |
| Local communities & society | · Support of sports clubs and orphanages · Volunteering, such as charity runs and blood donations |
| Customers
| · Annual business reviews · Topic-specific workshops · Joint product developments · Regular visits · Customer events · Customer Sustainability Programme |
| Suppliers | · Managing daily work · Regular meetings · Workshops · Company visits · Business review · Joint projects |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Continental engaged with its stakeholders through surveys and interviews.
What actions were taken by Edelmann Group to promote sustainability among its suppliers?
In its 2020 Sustainability Report Edelmann Group reports that it took the following actions for promoting sustainability among its suppliers:
- Implementing a Supplier Code of Conduct
- With the fast development of its sustainability commitments, Edelmann Group has seen the need to extend the expectations from its suppliers and make sure they share the same values and outlook. The updated Supplier Code of Conduct includes clauses on the economic and general principles, such as anti-corruption, fair competition, money laundering, and data privacy, to name a few. Edelmann Group has also significantly extended the social responsibility and environmental expectations to match its sustainability agenda. As the update of the Supplier Code of Conduct was extensive, Edelmann Group collected new signatures from the key existing suppliers as well as new suppliers, to confirm their commitment.
- Evaluating suppliers
- Edelmann Group’s internal supplier evaluation is implemented on the plant level, except global suppliers, who are monitored centrally in Global Procurement. The annual process includes the evaluation of 8 different pillars, including sustainability, where supporting evidence is assessed such as the Sustainability Report, EcoVadis ranking, CDP ranking along with joint work, i.e. whether any projects were launched, how well-informed Edelmann Group stayed throughout the year on the latest developments of the suppliers, especially with the focus on social and environmental improvements.
- Establishing a new process of digital supplier approval
- With the intention to maximise transparency and credibility as well as to standardise the supplier approval process globally, Edelmann Group has established a new process of digital supplier approval, split into different workflows for different supplier levels. Level 1 and Level 2 suppliers are assessed by authorised employees from the quality department in the first place, followed by an evaluation by the procurement department – upon positive confirmations from both, the supplier can be added to the pool. Level 3 suppliers are only approved by the procurement department, as no risk is involved. Started in 2019, further roll-out was completed in Germany, USA, China, Hungary and France during 2020.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:
1) Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria
2) Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria
Disclosure 308-1 New suppliers that were screened using environmental criteria does not correspond to any SDG.
Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality
- Targets: 5.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.8
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- Targets: 16.1
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References:
This case study is based on published information by Edelmann Group, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:
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