What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2021 Sustainability Report Navigator identified a range of material issues, such as ethics, transparency and inclusion, responsible use of resources, talent management and developing human capital, sustainable forestry management and conserving biodiversity. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for Navigator.

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 Navigator engages with: 

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement (Inform)
Shareholders	·      Investor relations ·      Regular reporting of financial and nonfinancial information ·      ESG Indexes ·      Sustainability Forum
Business associations	·      Participation in management bodies of industry associations in areas such as energy, forestry and sustainable development ·      Sustainability Forum
Customers	·      Meetings/Visits to Group’s mills and nurseries ·      Satisfaction surveys ·      Corporate website ·      Business activities ·      Advertising campaigns ·      Periodic engagement exercises
Employees	·      Periodic meetings between Executive Board and Workers’ Committee ·      Managers’ Forum ·      My Planet ·      Intranet ·      Mill visits
Community	·      Community Monitoring Committees ·      Sustainability Forum ·      My Planet ·      Give the Forest a Hand ·      Forest of Knowledge
Government and regulatory authorities	·      Formal response to legal requirements ·      Meetings and response to various enquiries ·      Sustainability Forum ·      Community Monitoring Committees
Suppliers	·      Declarations of conformity ·      Sustainability assessment surveys ·      Sustainability Forum
NGOs	·      Sustainability Forum ·      Visits to Group’s mills and nurseries ·      Cooperation agreements ·      Community Monitoring Committees
Forest landowners and forestry associations	·      Cooperation agreements ·      Forestry Producers Magazine ·      Florestas.pt platform ·      e-globulus platform ·      Technology showcases ·      Trade Fairs ·      Sustainability Forum
Scientific and technological system	·      Cooperation agreements with Universities ·      Research partnerships (RAIZ) ·      Study grants and Master’s degrees ·      Sustainability Forum ·      Forest of Knowledge

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics Navigator engaged with its stakeholders through surveys and in-depth interviews.

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

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

• Creating economic value for employees
• In 2021, Navigator paid € 154 million for employee salaries and benefits.

• Creating economic value for capital providers
• In 2021, Navigator paid € 167 million to capital providers.

• Creating economic value for the state
• In 2021, Navigator paid € 90 million in taxes.

• Creating economic value for communities
• In 2021, Navigator spent € 1.6 million in community investments.

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.

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References:

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

 http://en.thenavigatorcompany.com/var/ezdemo_site/storage/original/application/908f314e757ac8eff5725aba330ea2bb.pdf  

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