SGS Archives - SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine Insights on how you can protect the environment, maintain and increase the value of your company, through a structured CSR/Sustainability process with the use of the GRI Standards. Learn how Today's Best-Run Companies are achieving Economic, Social, and Environmental Success - and How You Can Too... Fri, 28 Apr 2023 06:02:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 Case study: How SGS creates economic value for its stakeholders https://sustaincase.com/case-study-how-sgs-creates-economic-value-for-its-stakeholders/ Fri, 28 Apr 2023 06:01:07 +0000 https://sustaincase.com/?p=17722 With more than 96 000 employees in 125 countries, SGS is the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company, led by its purpose to bring value to society by enabling a better, safer and more interconnected world. Maintaining continuous dialog and creating shared value with all its stakeholders, is critical to SGS’s long-term success.  This case study is based on the 2021 Corporate Sustainability Report by SGS, 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 […]

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]]> With more than 96 000 employees in 125 countries, SGS is the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company, led by its purpose to bring value to society by enabling a better, safer and more interconnected world. Maintaining continuous dialog and creating shared value with all its stakeholders, is critical to SGS’s long-term success. 

This case study is based on the 2021 Corporate Sustainability Report by SGS, 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

Ensuring long-term value creation for all its stakeholders, is a top priority for SGS.  Tweet This! In order to create economic value for its stakeholders SGS took action to:

  • create economic value for employees
  • create economic value for subcontractors
  • create economic value for shareholders
  • create economic value for the government

What are the material issues the company has identified?  

In its 2021 Corporate Sustainability Report SGS identified a range of material issues, such as cybersecurity, risk management, data privacy and protection, ethical behaviour, health and safety. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for SGS.

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 SGS engages with: 

Stakeholder Group                Method of engagement
Employees

 

 

 ·      Global employee engagement programme, Catalyst

·      SGS intranet portal and internal social network

·      SGS Inside newsletter

·      Rules from Lëss sustainability engagement campaign. In 2021, SGS launched an internal initiative hosted by Lëss the bear, its sustainability mascot, to empower all colleagues around the network to actively contribute to the achievement of its corporate sustainability goals, as set out in SGS’s SA30

·      Training programmes, videos and eLearning modules

·      SHINE onboarding

·      Employee representation councils (e.g. European Works Council – Euro Forum)
Customers

 

 

 ·      One-to-one meetings

·      SGS hosted conferences, seminars and webinars

·      Customer surveys, e.g. Voice of the Customer

·      White papers

·      Customer portal
Governments and industries

 

 ·      SGS hosted conferences, seminars and webinars

·      Membership meetings and events

·      White papers
Investors

 

 

 

 ·      Annual General Meeting

·      SGS Investor Days

·      Meetings with investors and analysts

·      Responses to analyst questionnaires
Communities and the planet

 

 

 

 ·      Multiple projects across the network – the impact of which SGS measures through its annual community survey

·      White papers

·      One-to-one meetings with NGOs and responses to questionnaires
Consumers ·      Certification and product labelling

·      Direct marketing and communication with certain B2C products
Suppliers ·      Supplier self-assessment

·      Supplier code of conduct

·      Supplier audits

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics SGS conducted a formal materiality assessment involving over 4 000 stakeholders in 112 countries, including customers, employees, suppliers, investors, non-governmental organisations and sustainability professionals

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

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

  • Creating economic value for employees
  • In 2021, SGS paid CHF 3 180 million for employee salaries and wages.
  • Creating economic value for subcontractors
  • In 2021, SGS paid CHF 385 million in subcontractors’ expenses.
  • Creating economic value for shareholders
  • In 2021, SGS paid CHF 641 million in dividends to shareholders.
  • Creating economic value for the government
  • In 2021, SGS paid CHF 269 million in income taxes and CHF 35 million in other taxes.

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:

 

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 SGS, 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://campaigns.sgs.com/-/media/global/documents/brochures/corporate-sustainability/sgs-2021-corporate-sustainability-report.pdf

Note to SGS: 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.

The post Case study: How SGS creates economic value for its stakeholders appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

]]> Case study: How SGS promotes sustainability among its suppliers https://sustaincase.com/case-study-how-sgs-promotes-sustainability-among-its-suppliers/ Fri, 24 Jun 2022 06:09:56 +0000 https://ccprowebs.com/new-sustaincase.com/?p=13773 SGS is the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company, recognised as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. , promoting its sustainability principles beyond its own business. This case study is based on the 2020 Corporate Sustainability Report by SGS, 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 Recognising that it is in a position […]

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]]> SGS is the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company, recognised as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. Across the more than 125 countries in which it operates, SGS sources goods and services sustainably, from suppliers that meet its high standards  Tweet This!, promoting its sustainability principles beyond its own business.

This case study is based on the 2020 Corporate Sustainability Report by SGS, 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

Recognising that it is in a position to influence up to 70,000 suppliers to follow its principles and values, SGS is committed to doing business with other companies that share its values and beliefs. In order to promote sustainability among its suppliers SGS took action to:

  • implement a Supplier Code of Conduct
  • assess suppliers
  • embed sustainability criteria into new supplier selection

What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2020 Corporate Sustainability Report SGS identified a range of material issues, such as cybersecurity, data privacy and protection, health & safety, ethical behaviour, talent attraction and retention. Among these, promoting sustainability among its suppliers stands out as a key material issue for SGS.

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 SGS engages with:

Stakeholder Group                Method of engagement
Employees

 

 

 ·      Global employee engagement programme, CATALYST

·      SGS intranet portal

·      SGS Inside newsletter

·      Add Value with Lëss – internal initiative aimed at increasing efficiency

·      Training programmes, videos and eLearning modules

·      SHINE Onboarding

·      Employee Representation Councils (e.g. European Works Council – Euro Forum)
Customers

 

 

 ·      One-to-one meetings

·      SGS hosted conferences, seminars and webinars

·      Customer surveys, e.g. Voice of the Customer

·      White papers

·      Customer portal
Governments and industries

 

 ·      SGS hosted conferences, seminars and webinars

·      Membership meetings and events

·      White papers
Investors

 

 

 

 ·      Annual General Meeting

·      SGS Investor Days

·      Meetings with investors and analysts

·      Responses to analyst questionnaires
Communities and the planet

 

 

 

 ·      Annual community survey to measure the impact of community investment

·      White papers

·      One-to-one meetings with NGOs and responses to questionnaires
Consumers ·      Certification and product labelling

·      Direct marketing and communication with certain B2C products
Suppliers ·      Supplier self-assessment

·      Supplier Code of Conduct

·      Supplier audits

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics SGS carried out an in-depth stakeholder engagement exercise, consulting with more than 4,000 stakeholders in 112 countries (including customers, employees, suppliers, investors, non-government organisations and sustainability professionals).

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

In its 2020 Corporate Sustainability Report SGS reports that it took the following actions for promoting sustainability among its suppliers:

  • Implementing a Supplier Code of Conduct
  • By participating to its tenders, suppliers must accept SGS’s Supplier Code of Conduct, which:
    • Defines SGS’s non-negotiable minimum standards and specifications for its supply chain and responsible sourcing
    • Applies to all new, critical and high-risk suppliers, who are required to adhere to it
    • Invites suppliers to work with SGS to identify and develop continuous improvements
    • Meets the requirements of the International Bill of Human Rights and the International Labour Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
    • Covers the areas aligned to SGS’s sustainability pillars: Professional Excellence, People, Environment and Community
    • Is supported by a confidential helpline for raising concerns about issues related to the Code
  • In addition, SGS’s suppliers automatically sign up to its Code of Conduct when following the SGS procurement process. In high and medium risk countries, for example in Africa and Asia, SGS has proactively requested 1,300 suppliers to sign its Code of Conduct.
  • Assessing suppliers
  • SGS asks strategic suppliers to complete a questionnaire requesting financial and procurement information and more in-depth sustainability information. SGS also asks them to provide third-party validation and to detail the actions they are taking to improve their sustainability performance. Based on this assessment, SGS prioritises groups or certain suppliers for partnership sustainability initiatives. Over the past three years, SGS assessed around 4,000 suppliers globally, which represents approximately one third of its yearly spend. This required enormous effort, with suppliers spread over 30 countries and speaking multiple languages.
  • Embedding sustainability criteria into new supplier selection
  • Engaging with new suppliers gives SGS the opportunity to establish sustainability as a pre-condition of its relationship with them. SGS’s Group-wide Procurement Policy requires sustainability criteria to be evaluated as part of its supplier selection, sourcing and contracting processes. In its standard supplier contract template, SGS states its expectation that its suppliers act in accordance with environmental, health, safety and employment policies, comply with relevant standards and legislation, continuously improve processes and encourage their contractors and subcontractors to follow the same practices. SGS’s Code of Conduct is directly embedded in its terms and conditions, so it is automatically accepted by each new supplier, regardless of country, market, technology, product or service. These criteria for doing business with SGS are continuously being developed further so that suppliers can be better compared based on their compliance with its sustainability standards.

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

4) Disclosure 414-2 Negative social impacts in the supply chain and actions taken

 

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:

Disclosure 414-2 Negative social impacts in the supply chain and actions taken corresponds to:

 

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 SGS, 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.sgs.com/-/media/global/documents/brochures/corporate-sustainability/sgs-2020-corporate-sustainability-report.pdf

Note to SGS: 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.

The post Case study: How SGS promotes sustainability among its suppliers appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

]]> Case study: How SGS promotes data security and privacy https://sustaincase.com/case-study-how-sgs-promotes-data-security-and-privacy/ Tue, 14 Jan 2020 15:53:15 +0000 https://ccprowebs.com/new-sustaincase.com/?p=10344 With over 97,000 employees and a global network of more than 2,600 offices and laboratories, SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company, recognised as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. As a company that holds itself to the highest standards of professional behaviour, . This case study is based on the 2018 Corporate Sustainability Report by SGS published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database 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 […]

The post Case study: How SGS promotes data security and privacy appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

]]> With over 97,000 employees and a global network of more than 2,600 offices and laboratories, SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company, recognised as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. As a company that holds itself to the highest standards of professional behaviour, protecting personal data and compliance with associated privacy laws, are essential commitments for SGS  Tweet This!.

This case study is based on the 2018 Corporate Sustainability Report by SGS published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database 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

On an ongoing basis, SGS works on managing, preventing, detecting and responding to security issues or risks identified, also taking a lead in shaping the future of the digital world as a Charter of Trust co-signatory, with the aim of strengthening cybersecurity to protect people, companies and infrastructure. In order to promote data security and privacy SGS took action to:

  • promote cybersecurity
  • comply with the GDPR
  • provide training

What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2018 Corporate Sustainability Report SGS identified a range of material issues, such as professional and operational integrity, talent acquisition and retention, market presence, diversity and equal opportunities, respect for human rights. Among these, promoting data security and privacy stands out as a key material issue for SGS.

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 SGS engages with: 

Stakeholder Group                Method of engagement
Employees and suppliers

 

 

 ·      Global employee engagement programme, CATALYST

·      SGS Sharepoint intranet portal

·      SGS Inside newsletter

·      Training programmes, videos and e-learning modules

·      SHINE Onboarding

·      Annual integrity training

·      Annual Safety Month

·      Spot the Orange Dot environmental behaviour campaign

·      Sustainability learning

·      Employee Representation Councils (e.g. European Works Council – Euroforum)

·      Supplier Self-Assessment

·      Supplier Code of Conduct

·      Supplier Audits

·      Supplier Innovation Programme
Customers

 

 

 ·      One-to-one meetings

·      SGS-hosted conferences, seminars and webinars

·      Customer surveys, e.g. Voice of the Customer

·      White papers

·      Customer portal
Governments and industries

 

 

 ·      SGS-hosted conferences, seminars and webinars

·      Membership meetings and events

·      White papers

·      Governments and Institutions business line
Investors

 

 

 

 ·      Annual General Meeting

·      SGS Investor Days

·      Meetings with investors and analysts

·      Responses to analyst questionnaires
Communities and the planet

 

 

 

 ·      Annual community survey to measure the impact of community investment

·      White papers

·      One-to-one meetings with NGOs and responses to questionnaires
Consumers ·      Certification and product labelling

·      Direct marketing and communication with certain B2C products

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics SGS carried out a survey among approximately 850 stakeholders in 52 countries, who included customers, senior managers, employees, suppliers, non-governmental organisations, ratings agencies, sustainability professionals and academics.

What actions were taken by SGS to promote data security and privacy?

In its 2018 Corporate Sustainability Report SGS reports that it took the following actions for promoting data security and privacy:

  • Promoting cybersecurity
  • SGS has a framework and team in place to protect intellectual property, business services and customer data by governing and managing cybersecurity. It is the team’s responsibility to manage SGS IT Security and Anomaly Detection Systems, deploying new tools where needed while identifying vulnerabilities, threats and potential incidents. SGS utilises several detection systems that monitor its network, system infrastructure and applications. The most critical of these detection systems are monitored on a continuous basis, while the rest keep audit information for analysis in case of enquiries or suspicion of fraudulent activity. Response times to potential incidents are monitored according to specific timeframe requirements, depending on the severity of the threat and its criticality. Any major security issues are investigated by the IT Security Department and, once the root cause has been identified, the impact of any proposed mitigation is evaluated and communicated. To promote high levels of cybersecurity, technical standards ensuring a sound security baseline have been developed and SGS also runs a continuous security awareness programme. As part of this programme, SGS carries out IT security training several times a year, for all employees. Cybersecurity is also an area that is taken seriously when integrating the IT systems of acquisitions and partners into those of the SGS Group.
  • Complying with the GDPR
  • In 2018, SGS put in place measures and mechanisms to make sure it complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These are detailed in the SGS GDPR Compliance Statement, which describes the steps SGS is taking to update and expand data security and protection across the Group. It also outlines the dedicated internal team in place to develop and implement the GDPR roadmap – assessing gaps and implementing enhanced and new policies and procedures. At the same time, SGS launched the GDPRONLINE service, to support customers in complying with the EU regulation.
  • Providing training
  • In 2018, SGS rolled out global awareness training on data protection and privacy principles as an e-learning module. This training is relevant to all employees, whether they collect and process personal data or not. Accordingly, the aim is to reach all SGS employees and, currently, SGS’s awareness training has been rolled out to more than 93,000 employees, with a completion rate of 95%.

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

The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 418-1 Substantiated complaints concerning breaches of customer privacy and losses of customer data

 

Disclosure 418-1 Substantiated complaints concerning breaches of customer privacy and losses of customer data corresponds to:

  • 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: Compliance with laws and regulations, Protection of privacy

 

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:

1) This case study is based on published information by SGS, 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 SGS: 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.

The post Case study: How SGS promotes data security and privacy appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

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