What are the material issues the company has identified?  

In its 2021 Annual Sustainability Report Brembo identified a range of material issues, such as climate change, product quality and safety, continuous innovation, sustainable and responsible supply chain, carbon neutral mobility. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for Brembo.

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:

“The reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

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 Brembo engages with:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Investors	·      General Shareholders’ Meeting ·      Feedback and support channels offered by the Investor Relations area ·      Shareholder Engagement Policy that defines the themes and methods of implementation of the dialogue between Brembo and the shareholders, inspired by the principles of propriety, transparency and symmetry of information, in compliance with European and Italian regulations on market abuse ·      Meetings, roadshows (in 2021 as well, due to the health emergency all meetings were held virtually) and quarterly conference calls with analysts ·      Corporate website and dedicated e-mail accounts ·      Events for financial analysts ·      Engagement Survey on the relevance of material topics for Brembo
Customers	·      Daily activities and reports of the Global Business Units: Car and Commercial Vehicle Systems Division, Brake Discs Division, Motorbikes, Aftermarket and Performance Group ·      Joint development programmes ·      Supplier assessment questionnaires and qualification processes ·      Customer support channels ·      Support and training network for Brembo Expert repair professionals ·      Surveys to identify customers’ needs and expectations for the development of new products ·      Engagement Survey on the relevance of material topics for Brembo ·       Live events with customers and through the Brembo Next platform, the new virtual space created for all Group’s events
End User	·      Customer support channels ·      Monitoring and interaction on social networks ·      Feedback from vehicle and motorbike manufacturers
Brembo People	·      Global engagement surveys to measure the Group’s internal climate (every three years) ·      Pulse / Quick survey on specific topics (e.g., Brembo Purpose Pulse Survey) or on certain geographical areas (e.g., Czech Republic) ·      Trade union roundtables ·      Daily activities and reports of the Human Resources and Organisation function ·      Channels for receiving reports of violations of the Code of Ethics, Code of Basic Working Conditions and Policy on Non-discrimination and Diversity
Suppliers	·      Daily activities and reports of the Purchasing function ·      Engagement Survey on the relevance of material topics for Brembo ·      Conflict Minerals Engagement Survey for the annual Supplier Survey in relation with their use of conflict minerals ·      Cobalt Engagement Survey and Mica Engagement Survey ·      Corporate Social Responsibility-related training provided to the Purchasing GCF personnel, with an in-depth analysis of the supply chain ·      Brembo Supplier Portal
Local Communities	·      Orientation and involvement of secondary school and university students and related recruiting programmes ·      Roundtables and discussions with the Public Administration ·      Initiatives involving the opening of Brembo’s facilities to visits from workers’ families (“open door” days) in various countries where the Group is present (they were temporarily suspended due to the ongoing pandemic) ·      Initiatives in support of the social and cultural development of local communities promoted by the Group ·      Whistleblowing mechanism for alleged violations of the Code of Ethics ·      Monitoring through the media (press, specialist publications, TV, Web and social networks)
Institutions	·      Roundtables and initiatives involving discussion with institutions, at national and international level ·      Hearings before parliamentary committees
Future Generations	·      Focus on the awareness campaigns of environmental associations and on analyses of the scientific community ·      Awareness raising with regard to sustainability-related issues ·      Orientation and involvement of secondary school and university students and related recruiting programmes ·      Launch of targeted engagement projects
Industry Companies and Competitors	·      Participation in the proceedings and themed committees of trade associations ·      Participation in events and special roundtables on the reference market ·      Benchmark analysis of the main players (primary and secondary players operating in the automotive component supply industry) by market, product, target customer
Insurance companies	·      Engagement Survey on the relevance of material topics for Brembo ·      Visits to the Group’s plants by the insurer for property risk assessment ·      Periodic audits by the insurer regarding liability risks
Trade associations	·      Roundtables and initiatives involving discussion with institutions, at national and international level ·      Hearings before parliamentary committees ·      Engagement Survey on the relevance of material topics for Brembo

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics Brembo engaged with its stakeholders through a survey and interviews.

What actions were taken by Brembo to create economic value for its stakeholders?

In its 2021 Annual Sustainability Report Brembo reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:

• Creating economic value for employees
• In 2021, Brembo paid € 506,617 thousand for employee salaries, variable remuneration and social security contributions.

• Creating economic value for suppliers
• In 2021, Brembo paid € 1,828,581 thousand to suppliers.

• Creating economic value for investors and lenders
• In 2021, Brembo paid € 138,229 thousand to investors and lenders.

• Creating economic value for the public administration
• In 2021, Brembo paid € 64,312 thousand to the public administration, plus € 1,713 thousand in gifts and sponsorships.

Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?

The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed

Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Targets: 8.1, 8.2
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
• Targets: 9.1, 9.4, 9.5

 

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.

7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started

Any size business can start taking sustainability action

GRI, ISEP, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom  (venue: London School of Economics)

• Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
• Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
• Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP. 
• Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement

See upcoming training dates.

References:

This case study is based on published information by Brembo, 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:

https://www.brembo.com/en/SustainabilityReport/2021/Relazione%20di%20Sostenibilita%202021%20UK%20i.pdf

Note to Brembo: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.