What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2020-21 Sustainability Report SCL identified a range of material issues, such as regulatory compliance, waste management, occupational health and safety, procurement practices, emissions management. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for SCL.

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 SCL engages with: 

To identify and prioritise material topics SCL engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels: 

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Customers	·      Annual customer satisfaction survey ·      Continuous online communication ·      Continuous meetings with customer representatives
Employees	·      Monthly meetings ·      Annual employee feedback surveys ·      Continuous employee grievance monitoring and redressal ·      Continuous training and workshops
Media	·      Meetings with media representatives, as and when required
Government	·      Regulatory filings, as and when required ·      Facility inspections, as and when required ·      Regular meetings with government officials
Shareholders	·      Continuous access to corporate website ·      Corporate filings with stock exchanges ·      Annual meetings ·      Press releases ·      Consistent management of investor relations ·      Annual reports and quarterly results
Local communities	·      Periodic meeting with community representatives ·      Continuous dialogues for identifying concerns to be addressed under CSR programmes ·      Executing CSR interventions in communities around operations
Suppliers	·      Periodic supplier inspection audits ·      Assessing new suppliers ·      Meetings with suppliers
Trade association	·      Meetings with trade association representatives, as and when required

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

In its 2020-21 Sustainability Report SCL reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:

• Creating economic value for employees
• With an employee strength of 6,259 as on March 31, 2021, it is SCL’s responsibility to take care of the long-term economic wellbeing of its employees. In this regard, SCL has provisions such as the Provident Fund, the Superannunation Fund, the Gratuity Fund etc. Accordingly, in FY 2020-21, SCL paid ₹7 Crore for employee wages and benefits.

• Creating economic value for providers of funds and the government
• In FY 2020-21, SCL paid ₹7 Crore to providers of funds and ₹ 3,922.9 Crore to the government.

• Supporting communities
• SCL is aware of the fact that its operations have a direct as well as indirect impact on local communities. Accordingly, in FY 2020-21, SCL paid ₹7 Crore 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.

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References:

This case study is based on published information by SCL, 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.shreecement.com/uploads/corporate-sustainability-reports/ShreeCement-SR2021-030122Web.pdf

Note to SCL: 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 2017-18 Corporate Sustainability Report SCL identified a range of material issues, such as customer satisfaction, employee relations, regulatory compliance, community development, biodiversity. Among these, promoting sustainability among its suppliers stands out as a key material issue for SCL.

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 SCL engages with:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Employees	·      Safety and Environment meetings ·      Employee feedback surveys ·      Employee grievance mechanism ·      Training and workshops
Customers	·      Customer satisfaction survey ·      Meetings with customer representatives ·      Online communication
Media	·      Meetings with media representatives
Government	·      Regulatory filings ·      Facility inspections
Shareholders	·      Meetings ·      Corporate website ·      Investor relations
Local Communities	·      Meetings with the community representatives ·      Executing CSR interventions in collaboration with NGOs
Suppliers	·      Supplier inspection audits
Trade Associations	·      Meetings with trade association representatives

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics SCL developed a detailed questionnaire which was circulated among internal stakeholders, to obtain their views on previously identified material topics and to identify new topics, if any.

What actions were taken by SCL to promote sustainability among its suppliers?

In its 2017-18 Corporate Sustainability Report SCL reports that it took the following actions for promoting sustainability among its suppliers:

• Implementing a Green Procurement Policy and Vendor Code of Conduct
• SCL’s ‘Green Procurement Policy’ and ‘Vendor Code of Conduct’ outline the principles of ethical business practices to be adopted by its suppliers in order to sustain long-term collaboration with SCL. Coverage of the policies extends to 100% of SCL’s suppliers. SCL’s determination is to apply the policies to all of its purchases, and require procurement staff not only to incorporate sustainable criteria in evaluating product and service options, but also to support suppliers in their sustainable development. The Green Procurement Policy provides a guidance and framework for evaluating and screening products, to make sure that they have a minimal impact on the environment. The Vendor Code of Conduct defines minimum standards of ethical and responsible behaviour on the following aspects of sustainability and social accountability:
  • Human rights
  • Maintaining value and integrity
  • Forced labour
  • Safe and hygienic work conditions
  • Child labour
  • Fair competition and anti-corruption
  • Compliance with laws
  • Corporate social responsibility

• Improving supplier performance through supplier assessments
• SCL has a systematic approach for supplier screenings called ‘Supplier Categorization Procedure’, which applies to all the suppliers with whom SCL has an established agreement and to suppliers who are in the process of entering an agreement with SCL. The procedure supports SCL in assessing its business partners’ performance across economic, environmental and social parameters, and also helps in understanding the potential risks facing SCL’s supply side operations. During the reporting year FY 2017- 18, SCL screened and assessed 18 suppliers based on its social and environmental assessment criteria, including SA 8000. The environmental criteria assessed included monitoring and management of environmental issues, sustainable packaging and shipping materials, environmental policy statement, and resource efficiency (energy conservation, water conservation, fuel savings). The social criteria assessed comprised child and forced labour, health & safety, freedom of association and collective bargaining, discrimination, working hours and remuneration. Additionally, all contracts and request-for-proposals included a Terms of Reference on sustainability aspects, to be covered by the firm.

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 308-2 Negative environmental impacts in the supply chain and actions taken

3) 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 308-2 Negative environmental impacts in the supply chain and actions taken does not correspond to any SDG.

Disclosure 414-1 New suppliers that were screened using social criteria corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
• Business theme: Workplace violence and harassment
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
• Business theme: Labor practices in the supply chain
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
• Business theme: Workplace violence and harassment 

 

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 & ISEP recognised Sustainability Course | Venue: London LSE

By registering for the next 2-day FBRH GRI Standards Certified & ISEP recognised 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 SCL, 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 SCL: 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.