What are the material issues the company has identified?

In its 2019 Sustainability Report Toyota Material Handling Europe identified a range of material issues, such as attracting and retaining talent, compliance, customer safety, responsible purchasing. Among these, reducing energy use in its operations stands out as a key material issue for Toyota Material Handling Europe.

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 Toyota Material Handling Europe engages with: 

Stakeholder Group

Employees

Prospective employees

Students

Customers

Suppliers

Distributors

Toyota Industries and its group companies

Local communities

Public authorities

European Works Council

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics Toyota Material Handling Europe engaged, through surveys, with 34 internal stakeholders (including leaders and decision makers across Toyota Material Handling Europe) and 22 external stakeholders who included industry associations, a civil society agency, an external consultant, an auditor, Toyota Material Handling Europe’s owner, a daughter and sister company, academia, media, a local government representative, a worker that was not an employee, and several suppliers and customers.

What actions were taken by Toyota Material Handling Europe to reduce energy use in its operations?

In its 2019 Sustainability Report Toyota Material Handling Europe reports that it took the following actions for reducing energy use in its operations:

• Reducing fleet fuel consumption
• In FY15, Toyota Material Handling Europe launched its green company car guideline, moving to more hybrid company cars and reduced fleet fuel consumption. Since FY12, the share of diesel in Toyota Material Handling Europe’s fuel mix for company cars and service vans has been reduced from 89% to 70%. With four million service visits per year, 60% of Toyota Material Handling Europe’s fuel use and 29% of its total energy use comes from fuel for service vans. By carrying about 20% less weight, getting smaller service vans, using GPS and eco-driving, Toyota Material Handling Europe uses less fuel and reduces CO2 emissions.

• Decreasing fuel use in buildings and factories
• Toyota Material Handling Europe’s factories in Italy and its company in the Czech Republic have achieved ISO 50001, and its company in the Netherlands achieved significant CO2 reductions. These entities continue to act as centres of excellence in energy management. Another factory (France) and two sales and service companies will become ISO 50001 certified in FY21. In FY19, Toyota Material Handling Manufacturing Sweden started to switch to liquefied biogas (LBG) and so reduce the total CO2 output from Toyota Material Handling by more than 5% through one single project. Two customer demo sites for solar charging have also been launched in Toyota Material Handling Europe’s premises:
  • On the Toyota Material Handling Netherlands campus in Ede, energy from solar panels is fed via solar charging stations to electric material handling equipment.
  • Lift Truck Equipment S.p.A. (LTE), Toyota Material Handling Europe’s mast manufacturing company in Italy, installed a hydrogen station in May 2017, producing hydrogen from renewable electricity generated by the company’s solar panels (140 kW). The hydrogen is filled to the company’s fuel cell lift trucks – developed by Toyota Industries Corporation – to contribute to CO2 reduction.
• Due to their commitment to energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies, both entities have already met their 2020 energy and CO2 targets. In FY16, Toyota Material Handling Europe’s sustainability champions visited Toyota Material Handling Netherlands and in FY18 its Lift Truck Equipment factory (LTE) in Ferrara, Italy in order for Toyota Material Handling Europe’s experts to learn from their best practice experience.

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

The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 302-4 Reduction of energy consumption

Disclosure 302-4 Reduction of energy consumption corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
• Targets: 7.3
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Targets: 8.4
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
• Targets: 12.2
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
• Targets: 13.1

 

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:

1) This case study is based on published information by Toyota Material Handling Europe, 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 Toyota Material Handling Europe: 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 2019 Sustainability Report Toyota Material Handling Europe identified a range of material issues, such as energy-efficient customer solutions, compliance, customer safety, responsible purchasing. Among these, promoting employee engagement stands out as a key material issue for Toyota Material Handling Europe.

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 Toyota Material Handling Europe engages with:

Stakeholder Group

Employees

Prospective employees

Students

Customers

Suppliers

Distributors

Toyota Industries and its group companies

Local communities

Public authorities

European Works Council

How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues

To identify and prioritise material topics Toyota Material Handling Europe engaged with 56 stakeholders (34 internal stakeholders including leaders and decision makers of Toyota Material Handling Europe and 22 external stakeholders  who included industry associations, a civil society agency, an external consultant, an auditor, Toyota Material Handling Europe’s owner, a daughter and sister company, academia, media, a local government representative, a worker that was not an employee, and several suppliers and customers) through surveys.

What actions were taken by Toyota Material Handling Europe to promote employee engagement?

In its 2019 Sustainability Report Toyota Material Handling Europe reports that it took the following actions for promoting employee engagement:

• Carrying out employee performance appraisals
• In FY19, 73% of Toyota Material Handling Europe’s employees underwent an annual performance appraisal, with 15 entities already reaching the 80% appraisal target two years before the 2021 deadline: Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Manufacturing France, Manufacturing Sweden, The Netherlands, Slovakia, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Norway and TMHEL Antwerp. In FY19, In comparison with FY18:
  • 11 entities improved their appraisal level
  • 7 entities stayed at the same level
  • 11 entities performed less appraisals
• Toyota Material Handling Europe aims to boost performance appraisals and make work more engaging and meaningful for all, while taking a structured approach for making change happen in its organisation.

• Supporting collective bargaining
• Toyota Material Handling Europe follows all legal regulations concerning collective bargaining agreements, which cover the majority of its employees (over 80%). Some countries have different arrangements according to country-specific practices, traditions and labour legislation. In any case, Toyota Material Handling Europe provides channels for all employees to engage in the company’s activities and express their opinions.

• Establishing a European Works Council
• The European Works Council (EWC) is, for Toyota Material Handling Europe, a partner and a vital contributor to communicate on matters affecting employees in more EU countries, addressing issues such as employee health and safety. Every year, performance against health and safety KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) is shared at Toyota Material Handling Europe’s European Works Council and the views of employee representatives are also taken into account when developing action plans. The EWC was established in 1996 under European and Swedish employment law. Each entity has the opportunity to elect one or more representatives, depending on their size, and the annual meeting is attended by Toyota Material Handling Europe’s President and several members of the Management Team.

• Promoting volunteering
• In order to increase sustainability awareness among its employees Toyota Material Handling Europe carries out a number of activities every year, particularly around the United Nations World Environment Day (June) and the European Week for Health & Safety at Work (October). Toyota Material Handling Europe is dedicated to making a positive contribution to society and wants to engage its employees in this. Accordingly, in FY19, Toyota Material Handling Europe donated about 100,000 EUR to social and environmental non-profit organisations and, on top of that, more than 500 employees took part in different volunteering activities: to raise money for charity, support local environmental actions, raise awareness about disability, events for students etc. Some entities also organised charity runs. 51 employees from Toyota Material Handling France took part in the La Baule triathlon, 24 employees ran against cancer in Italy and 260 employees in Sweden supported blood donation initiatives via a charity run. With the support of an external organisation, Toyota Material Handling France held a workshop to raise awareness for disabilities. The workshop was designed for employees without disabilities to better understand the difficulties and feelings of employees with visual, hearing and other physical disabilities or those with a psychosomatic disease in their daily lives. The event was attended by 81 employees, who experienced cooking with blinders or earplugs. They shared the feeling of their challenged colleagues through the disability simulations and exchanged information on disabilities.

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

The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 404-3 Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development reviews

Disclosure 404-3 Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development reviews corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality
• Targets: 5.1
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Targets: 8.5
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10: Reduced Inequalities
• Targets: 10.3

 

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 Toyota Material Handling Europe, 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 Toyota Material Handling Europe: 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.