Case study: How Skanska promotes sustainability among its suppliers
Skanska is a leading global construction and project development company, focused on selected home markets in the Nordic region, Europe and the USA. Skanska works with its suppliers to implement a shared commitment to sustainability topics Tweet This! such as labour rights, human rights, the environment, safety and ethics.
This case study is based on the 2020 Annual and Sustainability Report by Skanska, 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
For Skanska, human rights and social sustainability go hand in hand with environmental sustainability, safety and labour rights, across its supply chain of more than 300,000 suppliers of goods, materials and services. In order to promote sustainability among its suppliers Skanska took action to:
- promote compliance
- implement a Supplier Code of Conduct
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Skanska has identified;
- How Skanska proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Skanska to promote sustainability among its suppliers
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2020 Annual and Sustainability Report Skanska identified a range of material issues, such as anti-corruption, occupational health and safety, GHG emissions, anti-competitive behaviour. Among these, promoting sustainability among its suppliers stands out as a key material issue for Skanska.
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 Skanska engages with:
| Stakeholder Group |
| Investors and shareholders |
| Employees |
| Customers |
| Suppliers and subcontractors |
| Society and local communities |
| Academia and NGOs |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Skanska engaged with its stakeholders through surveys and structured interviews, receiving feedback from over 400 stakeholders.
What actions were taken by Skanska to promote sustainability among its suppliers?
In its 2020 Annual and Sustaina
Skanska works with its suppliers to implement a shared commitment to sustainability topics such as labour rights, human rights, the environment, safety and ethics.
bility Report Skanska reports that it took the following actions for promoting sustainability among its suppliers:
- Promoting compliance
- Skanska carries out risk-based assessments followed by due diligence for certain categories of suppliers or if this is deemed necessary. Mandatory ethical due diligence is carried out for intermediaries, joint venture partners and sellers or buyers of land or real estate assets. Additionally, Skanska collects information on the ethical standards and culture of third parties including information on any past legal violations, possible transaction-related conflicts and other indicators of risk. Skanska also has an automated sanctions screening process and uses a global database to check all active suppliers according to its sanctions procedure, every 24 hours.
- Implementing a Supplier Code of Conduct
- Skanska’s Code of Conduct is supplemented by its Supplier Code of Conduct, which must be adhered to by all subcontractors, suppliers, consultants, intermediates and agents. The Supplier Code of Conduct is included in agreements with these parties and outlines Skanska’s expectations from those it does business with. It enables continuous monitoring and audits to be carried out, where applicable. There is an option to terminate an agreement in the event of a major breach of Skanska’s Supplier Code of Conduct, such as corruption or inclusion on the sanctions list.
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 Skanska, 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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