What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2017 Sustainable Development Report Swire Properties identified a range of material issues, such as green building construction/ renovation, climate change/ decarbonisation, energy efficiency, tenant / customer engagement, local economic development. Among these, promoting sustainable business practices across its supply chain stands out as a key material issue for Swire Properties.

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 Swire Properties engages with:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Employee Groups	·      Surveys and interviews ·      Intranet forums and newsletters ·      Training sessions ·      Competitions and team-building activities
Community/NGOs	·      Community events ·      Joint projects ·      Working committees and consultations ·      Multi-stakeholder meetings/seminars on specific issues
Tenants	·      Joint projects ·      Community events ·      Surveys and interviews ·      Multi-stakeholder meetings/ seminars on specific issues
Regulators/Government	·      Joint projects ·      Working committees and consultations ·      Interviews
Joint Venture Partners	·      Surveys and interviews ·      Multi-stakeholder meetings/seminars on specific issues ·      Joint projects
Media	·      Annual gathering ·      Interviews ·      Feedback and responses to media enquiries
Industry Experts/Academia	·      Joint projects/research funds ·      Multi-stakeholder forums and partnerships ·      Seminars
Shareholders & Investors	·      SD benchmarks and indices ·      Interviews and meetings ·      Newsletters ·      Events
Customers/Consumers	·      Surveys ·      Customer service Apps ·      Community events ·      Joint projects
Suppliers	·      Supplier screening and assessments ·      Joint projects ·      Surveys

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics Swire Properties carried out 22 qualitative interviews and a quantitative survey among over 300 internal and external stakeholders.

What actions were taken by Swire Properties to promote sustainable business practices across its supply chain?

In its 2017 Sustainable Development Report Swire Properties reports that it took the following actions for promoting sustainable business practices across its supply chain:

• Implementing a Supplier Code of Conduct
• Swire Properties’ Supply Chain Sustainability Programme integrates sustainable development policies, procedures and goals into its supply chain management practices. At the core of this programme is the Supplier Code of Conduct (“SCoC”), which sets out minimum standards and practices regarding legal and regulatory compliance, environmental protection, health and safety, labour practices and other areas. In addition to having their own supplier codes of conduct in place, Swire Properties requires that its suppliers adopt and implement policies and procedures to prevent bribery, corruption and fraud in their own operations. To ensure proper respect for human rights throughout its business, including its supply chain, Swire Properties requires that its suppliers do not use any form of forced, coerced or bonded labour, and that legal minimum age requirements for employment are strictly observed. Swire Properties’ policy is that no person who does work for the company can be below 16 years of age, unless he or she is part of a recognised professional apprenticeship programme. This includes suppliers working on projects for Swire Properties. Suppliers who fail to comply fully with Swire Properties’ SCoC risk termination of their contracts and removal from Swire Properties’ contractors list.

• Monitoring compliance
• Swire Properties is working to enhance and streamline its contractor selection processes, and implements an e-contractor list management system that allows potential contractors to submit applications online. In order to be included on its contractor list, relevant new suppliers must complete self-assessment questionnaires to confirm that appropriate policies and systems are in place to manage environmental impacts and OHS (Occupational Health and Safety). Swire Properties’ technical services and sustainable development department carries out due diligence to verify the information provided. All suppliers who have been accepted onto Swire Properties’ contractor list are subject to compliance monitoring. Each year, Swire Properties selects key suppliers, based on highest total procurement spending to complete self-assessment questionnaires. In 2017, Swire Properties also completed a risk assessment of its 20 largest suppliers accounting for the majority of its procurement budget. Using its Enterprise Risk Management framework to evaluate the likelihood and severity of risks, Swire Properties determined that none of these suppliers were “high risk”. Swire Properties has enhanced its monitoring of key suppliers to strengthen risk management in its supply chain and, as part of the new process, may undertake site visits and/or request that key suppliers obtain independent certification in accordance with internationally recognised standards, such as ISO 14001 Environmental Management System and OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health & Safety Management System. In some cases, key suppliers may also be asked to submit environmental and health and safety management plans for Swire Properties’ internal review.

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 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 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.

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 Swire Properties, 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 Swire Properties: 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 Sustainable Development Report Swire Properties identified a range of material issues, such as green building construction/ renovation, climate change/ decarbonisation, community investment/ engagement, energy efficiency, local economic development. Among these, promoting employee health and wellbeing stands out as a key material issue for Swire Properties.

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 Swire Properties engages with:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Employee Groups	·      Surveys and interviews ·      Intranet forums and newsletters ·      Training sessions ·      Competitions and team-building activities
Community/NGOs	·      Community events ·      Joint projects ·      Working committees and consultations ·      Multi-stakeholder meetings/seminars on specific issues
Tenants	·      Joint projects ·      Community events ·      Surveys and interviews ·      Multi-stakeholder meetings/ seminars on specific issues
Regulators/Government	·      Joint projects ·      Working committees and consultations ·      Interviews
Joint Venture Partners	·      Surveys and interviews ·      Multi-stakeholder meetings/seminars on specific issues ·      Joint projects
Media	·      Annual gathering ·      Interviews ·      Feedback and responses to media enquiries
Industry Experts/Academia	·      Joint projects/research funds ·      Multi-stakeholder forums and partnerships ·      Seminars
Shareholders & Investors	·      SD benchmarks and indices ·      Interviews and meetings ·      Newsletters ·      Events
Customers/Consumers	·      Surveys ·      Customer service Apps ·      Community events ·      Joint projects
Suppliers	·      Supplier screening and assessments ·      Joint projects ·      Surveys

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics Swire Properties engaged with its stakeholders through 22 qualitative interviews and a quantitative survey among more than 300 internal and external stakeholders.

What actions were taken by Swire Properties to promote employee health and wellbeing?

In its 2017 Sustainable Development Report Swire Properties reports that it took the following actions for promoting employee health and wellbeing:

• Implementing a Wellness Programme
• Swire Properties implements a Wellness Programme for employees in Hong Kong and Mainland China which, in 2017, included sharing sessions for frontline employees on a range of topics, such as mindfulness, maintaining work/life balance, good nutrition and healthy eating. With 280 participants across 6 offices, the programme also comprised lunch talks on low-carbon eating and coping with allergies, attended by 160 Additionally, in 2017, Swire Hotels launched a new Wellness Programme that involved a fitness challenge. Members of Swire Properties’ Central Support Office were offered personal fitness trackers and were invited to participate in a wide range of physical activities, from yoga and funky dance to jogging and hiking. In addition, Swire Properties cares about the mental health of employees, and provides relevant counselling services and learning opportunities through its Employee Assistance Programme. In 2017, Swire Properties hosted various sharing sessions, lunchtime talks and workshops for employees, aiming to address work/life balance and mental health issues in the workplace.

• Creating a rejuvenating space for frontline employees
• Swire Properties has created a dedicated space for members of its Taikoo Place building management and technical services departments, to relax and rejuvenate. The 4,500-square foot space opened in May 2017 and consists of a changing room, common room and gym, also including other amenities such as mobile-charging stations, a massage corner and a magnetic blackboard. The design of the new space incorporated employees’ suggestions, to make sure it met the needs of Swire Properties’ building management and technical services department members.

• Encouraging employees to keep fit
• In 2017, Swire Properties sponsored two sporting events, to promote healthy living, exercise and teamwork among employees. In February, Swire Properties’ Community Ambassadors and their families took part in Run for Survival, organised by the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Hong Kong to raise funds for its marine conservation efforts. In September, 116 employees participated in Swire Properties’ annual sporting event by competing in 2km, 5km and 10km team and individual races.

• Promoting urban farming among employees
• In 2017, Swire Properties collaborated with social enterprise Rooftop Republic to develop three workshops aiming to teach employees how to live more sustainably:
  • Create Your Own Mini Edible Garden focused on how to grow greens at home, using recycled plastic drink bottles. Instructors showed planting techniques and offered tips, helping participants learn about the feasibility and benefits of urban farming.
  • Coffee Grounds Recycling instructed participants on how to make a body scrub suitable for their skin type, and explored the benefits of using coffee grounds to create homemade soaps and scrubs.
  • Grow Your Own Oyster Mushrooms taught participants how to use food compost and coffee grounds to grow non-toxic mushrooms in their own homes.

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

The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 403-6 Promotion of worker health

Disclosure 403-6 Promotion of worker health does not correspond to any SDG.

 

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 Swire Properties, 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 Swire Properties: 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.