What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2017 Corporate Social Responsibility Report Compal identified a range of material issues, such as economic performance, market presence, labour-management relations, customer health and safety. Among these, reducing the environmental impact of its products stands out as a key material issue for Compal.

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 Compal engages with:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Employees	·      Labour-management communication ·      Internal publications ·      Welfare Committee ·      Internet and employee comment box, sexual harassment complaint hotline, fraud or violation of ethical conduct report mailbox ·      Compal_CSR FB fan page push notification and opinions response ·      Education and training
Customers	·      Regular communication and discussion conference ·      Email discussion ·      Customer audits ·      Customers’ supplier conferences
Investors/ Shareholders	·      Shareholders’ meeting ·      Shareholder hotline/mailbox ·      Investor seminar ·      Market Observation Post
Suppliers	·      Supplier conferences ·      Email discussion ·      Supplier online assessment and on-site audit ·      Supplier complaints mailbox ·      Internal supplier system
Government	·      Correspondence ·      Participation in Government Projects ·      Participation in regulatory seminars/conferences ·      Actual Visits
Non-profit Organisations	·      Participation in charity events ·      On-site Visits ·      Email ·      Telephone Contact
Media	·      Press releases ·      Press conferences
Community	·      Participation in community activities ·      Email Discussion ·      Telephone Discussion

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics, Compal engaged with its stakeholders through questionnaires, which were complemented by a new round of stakeholder surveys in 2018.

What actions were taken by Compal to reduce the environmental impact of its products?

In its 2017 Corporate Social Responsibility Report Compal reports that it took the following actions for reducing the environmental impact of its products:

• Making products easier to recycle and environmentally friendly
• When designing its products Compal uses, as much as possible, environmentally friendly materials, also introducing numerous design improvements to make products easier to recycle. The environmental, sustainable and renewable designs that Compal implements include the following:
  • prohibiting or reducing the use of hazardous substances
  • using only one type of plastic materials, where appropriate
  • introducing renewable and bio-degradable plastics into electronic products
  • using plastic materials compatible with surface treatment materials, so that products can be recycled and reused
  • designing products in ways that make them easy to disassemble and recycle
  • using modularised designs so that main parts can be replaced and upgraded, extending the product life cycle
  • printing recycling labels on packaging materials, as a reminder to consumers
  • making sure all plastic objects weighing 25 grams or more have contents labelled in detail, to facilitate recycling

• In addition, Compal designs all its products in accordance with WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) standards, which require that at least 65% of the materials used are recyclable. For main notebook brand clients, Compal designs products to enable an even higher recycling rate (96%-100%).

• Optimising packaging
• Compal is constantly improving packaging design to reduce, simplify and make the optimum use of packaging materials, minimising their environmental impacts. Compal’s achievements in recent years include:
  • In 2011, Compal launched its patented square package design, which not only requires fewer resources but also enables consumers to keep the package and use it as a storage box.
  • In 2012, Compal replaced EPE (Expanded Polyethylene) materials with 100% recyclable cardboard.
  • In 2014, Compal increased the number of products per pallet from 78-84 to 102-120.
  • In 2015, Compal optimised EPE cushions for notebook PCs by consolidating the old 3-piece design into a single piece. By doing so, Compal reduced the use of packaging materials by 50% and materials surface by 48%.
  • In 2017, Compal greatly increased the use of automated equipment for picking, sealing, labelling and exterior examining before shipping, to reduce the human error rate.

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

The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:

1) Disclosure 301-1 Materials used by weight or volume

2) Disclosure 301-3 Reclaimed products and their packaging materials

 

Disclosure 301-1 Materials used by weight or volume corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
• Business theme: Materials efficiency
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
• Business theme: Materials efficiency/recycling

Disclosure 301-3 Reclaimed products and their packaging materials corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
• Business theme: Resource efficiency of products and services
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
• Business theme: Resource efficiency of products and services

 

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:

1) This case study is based on published information by Compal, 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 original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:

http://database.globalreporting.org/

2)  https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/

Note to Compal: 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.

What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2015 Sustainability Report Desso identified a range of material issues, such as customer health & safety, product environmental impact, material health, environmental impact of supply-chain, natural & social capital accounting. Among these, designing and producing recyclable products containing recycled content stands out as a key material issue for Desso.

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 organization should identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations.”

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 Desso engages with:   

Stakeholder Group

Academia

Consultants

Customers

Employees

Governments

Industry and trade associations

NGO’s

Reporting agencies

Shareholders

Suppliers

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify material topics, Desso carried out a stakeholder survey, sending out a total of 198 surveys, of which 62 were completed by stakeholders (a 31% response rate).

What actions were taken by Desso to design and produce recyclable products containing recycled content?

In its 2015 Sustainability Report Desso reports that it took the following actions for designing and producing recyclable products containing recycled content:

• Making sure products meet the requirements of the Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard
• Desso makes sure its products are certified according to the Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard which, among others, requires designers and manufacturers to:
  • maximize the percentage of renewable materials or recycled content in a product
  • maximize the percentage of materials that may be safely reused, recycled or composted
  • designate products as biological (may safely return to nature)

• Increasing recycled content contained in carpets, carpet tiles and sports pitches
• In 2014, the amount of defined recycled content for carpets, carpet tiles and sports pitches more than doubled from 5% in 2013 to 10.5%, and doubled once more in 2015, to 20 per cent.

• Using eco-effective design for products
• Desso, in accordance with the Cradle to Cradle philosophy, puts a lot of emphasis on the early phases of product design, striving to achieve a better design in the first place, to make sure materials used will be healthy for use and recycling.

• Offering customers the option to lease rather than own carpets
• [tweetthis]By leasing carpets, Desso controls recycling and helps customers minimize their own impacts.[/tweetthis] In 2014, Desso and DLL, a global financial solutions partner, offered Desso’s customers the option to lease rather than own the carpets they require, which makes Desso better able to ensure products are returned for recycling.

Which GRI indicators/Standards have been addressed?

The GRI indicator addressed in this case is: G4-EN2: Percentage of materials used that are recycled input materials and the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 301-2 Recycled input materials used

 

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.

FBRH GRI Standards Certified and ISEP approved Sustainability Course | Venue: London LSE

By registering for the next 2-day FBRH GRI-Standards Certified and ISEP approved Course you will be taking the first step in gaining the many benefits of sustainability reporting.

 

References:

1) This case study is based on published information by Desso, 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 original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:

http://database.globalreporting.org/

2) http://www.fbrh.co.uk/en/global-reporting-initiative-gri-g4-guidelines-download-page

3) https://g4.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx

4) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/

Note to Desso: With each case study we send out an email to your listed address in request for a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.