Sustainability is part of our DNA

Material topics and their interdependence on SDGs and ESG dimensions
Based on the list of topics derived from the preliminary online survey, stakeholders at the workshop discussed which of those topics are most significant in terms of both SFS’s impact on the environment, society and the economy as well as their significance to SFS. This resulted in the following list of material topics,arranged in order of decreasing significance:

1. Energy consumption
2. Emissions
3. Training and continuing education
4. Sustainable solutions
5. Employee satisfaction and engagement
6. Occupational health and safety
7. Sustainability checks for suppliers
8. Material efficiency and waste
9. Resource and material procurement

During the discussions that followed, these topics were then grouped into focus topics and assigned to corresponding GRI-Standards; not all of those GRI-Standards were also classified as material, however.

While “Emissions” has already been classified as material in the past, the topic of “Energy” now appears on SFS’s list of material topics for the first time. In light of the fact that electricity consumption accounts for around 70% of emissions in Scope 1 and Scope 2 as well as the fact that SFS, as a manufacturing company, has high energy requirements, it is understandable that the stakeholders attach top priority to this topic. The stakeholders believe that SFS has the greatest environmental impact in these two topics, which together form the focus topic “Energy and emissions”. Conversely, energy costs and the availability of energy have a huge impact on SFS’s business activities. Continuously increasing our energy efficiency, using energy with the lowest level of emissions possible and increasing the share of self-produced renewable energy are therefore also in our own interest.

Only well-trained, highly motivated and satisfied employees will achieve the best results in their role as value creators and create value added. Through its active promotion of the dual education system of vocational education and training, SFS not only invests in talent development but social and economic development as well. The stakeholders once again classified the topic of “Training and Education” as the most important in the social sphere and combined it with the topic of “Diversity and equal opportunity” to create the focus topic “Employee promotion and engagement”. The GRI-Standard “Employment” also falls under this topic but were not classified as material.

Customers attending the stakeholder workshops also gave a high rating to the topic of “Sustainable solutions” and its impact on people and the environment. The main focus here was on the materials used and the products’ recyclability. The topic of “Materials” was identified as a new material topic as a result; while the GRI-Standard “Waste” also falls under this focus topic, it was not classified as material.

The focus topic “Procurement” gained traction for several reasons: Not only is systematic sustainability management essential throughout the entire supply chain as a result of increasing regulatory requirements, it is also pivotal to identifying and reducing Scope 3 emissions, which account for the largest share of emissions.The decisions SFS makes with respect to procurement have big impacts from both a social and environmental perspective. Conversely, suppliers and their activities also have an impact on SFS’s environmental footprint and ethical integrity. This topic, entitled “Sustainability checks for suppliers”, was classified at the workshops as one of the most important as a result. This includes the two GRI-Standards entitled “Supplier Environmental Assessment” and “Supplier Social Assessment” on which SFS is reporting for the first time in the corresponding parts of the report. The standard “Procurement Practices” also falls under the topic but was not classified as material.

The focus topic “Occupational health and safety” consists of a GRI-Standard that was no longer classified as a material topic in the discussion. Instead, SFS decided to classify this topic, like the topics “Human rights” and “Socioeconomic compliance”, as standard topics. Standard topics define the framework for every business activity engaged in by SFS and are therefore considered to be basic content that is reported on an ongoing basis, however not to the same extent as material GRI-Standards.

Going forward, SFS will focus on the first four focus topics in order to leverage long-term targets and corresponding initiatives as away of ensuring continuous progress with respect to its sustainable development efforts. For this, the individual topics will be examined as a whole and their positive or negative impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as the ESG dimension of each (environment, social, governance) will be taken into consideration.