ESG
A regenerative approach to business that focuses on creating both social and economic value.
OUR APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainable business practices support the execution of our strategy and the fulfilment of our purpose to create long-term economic and social value.
R66 million invested in enterprise and supplier development (FY25)
R32 million contributed
to social development
projects (FY25)
Reused/recycled 19 611 tonnes of waste (FY25)
238 344 tCO2e
absorbed for
the 2024
calendar year
R118 million invested in training and development (FY25)
SUSTAINABILITY GOVERNANCE
Our board is ultimately responsible for sustainability governance in the group and delegates the oversight and monitoring of sustainability matters to specific board committees, namely the sustainability, social and ethics committee, the human capital and remuneration committee and the audit and risk committee. The following group committees and teams have accountability for various areas of sustainability: the KAP Exco, the divisional Excos and the relevant divisional operational management teams. Where necessary, experts are consulted on specific areas of sustainability, for example, on climate change.
KAP corporate services executives regularly update the board on sustainability matters and external stakeholder views, bearing in mind the diverse nature of sustainability within the group.
The relevant focus areas, policies and frameworks pertaining to sustainability matters are set at a KAP level, with guidance and approval thereof by our board, and are adopted by our divisions.
Read more in our Corporate governance review 2025
SUSTAINABILITY AND STRATEGY
Sustainability principles are integrated with the commercial strategies of our divisions through our business principles of value-add/differentiation, operational excellence, best people and strategic stakeholder relationships.
The application of our business principles enables our divisions to deliver fit-for-purpose products and services that are differentiated from competitors and enhance their competitiveness, to support the execution of our strategy.
A practical example of this integration is operational excellence: to achieve low-cost positions, our divisions need to be as efficient as possible in their use of raw materials, and thus natural resources, to minimise waste. Sustainability has a strong commercial foundation in the group, with a lower environmental impact and/or positive societal impact a natural benefit of this process.
There are, however, consistent trade-offs in our decision-making. For example, during the year we unfortunately had to retrench employees, mostly due to lower sales volumes, to ensure the long-term sustainability of our businesses. While we have the potential to significantly increase renewable energy capacity in the group, our focus on net debt reduction to de-risk our balance sheet affects the pace at which we can roll out this capacity.
MATERIALITY
Our integrated and sustainability reporting are guided by materiality. Material matters refer to those matters that could affect the group’s ability to create value for our key stakeholders over the short, medium or long term. We also consider matters which we believe are of importance to our key stakeholders, as assessed through a quantitative and qualitative group materiality assessment. Sustainability matters are considered in our group materiality assessment, rather than being considered separately. Material matters are evaluated and approved by our board.
Our threshold for financial reporting materiality is for an impact of greater than R35 million on operating profit or net operating assets. As our materiality threshold for financial reporting is lower than for our enterprise risk framework, and we consider matters of importance to our key stakeholders, our material matters include more matters than our group risks.
SUSTAINABILITY PRIORITY AREAS
In certain material matters there is an overlap in terms of importance between the group and our key stakeholders (‘priority areas’). By increasing our focus on these areas, we believe we have the greatest potential to drive positive change through our business activities. Our priority areas are shown in our sustainability framework overleaf.
OUR SUSTAINABILITY FRAMEWORK
Our sustainability framework summarises our material themes and priority areas, and aligns with the objectives of the UN SDGs.
Our purpose and strategy
Our purpose is to create lasting economic and social value by building market-leading businesses. Our strategy is to deliver sustainable, value-accretive growth for our stakeholders by building a portfolio of market-leading businesses.
Material
themes
Material matters refer to those matters that could affect the group’s ability to create value for our key stakeholders over the short, medium or long term, and/or matters which we believe are of importance to our key stakeholders. Our material matters are grouped under five themes:
Generating economic value
Adhering to responsible business practices
Creating an engaged workforce
Delivering social value
Driving resource efficiency
Our priority areas and objectives
Material matters refer to those matters that could affect the group’s ability to create value for our key stakeholders over the short, medium or long term, and/or matters which we believe are of importance to our key stakeholders. Our material matters are grouped under five themes:
Energy management and GHG emissions
- Accurate measurement
- Sustainability and consistency of energy supply
- Energy reduction and optimisation
- Reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 10% by FY30, relative to FY23 adjusted baseline
Water
management
- Responsible use
- Accurate measurement
- Mitigate supply risks
- Maintain and improve water intensity
Waste
management
- Accurate measurement
- Generate less waste
- Recycle to improve cost and efficiencies
- Reduce waste disposal
Attracting and retaining talent
- Accurate measurement
- Attract and retain the right people, in the right roles, to deliver on the group strategy
- Retain critical leadership and technical skills
- Build an internal recruitment function to attract critical and scarce skills
Health
and safety
- A safe working environment for employees and contractors
- Zero fatalities
Community development
- Provide SED that has a positive and lasting impact on the communities in which we operate
- Support municipal infrastructure maintenance and service delivery
Relevant SDGs
As a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact (‘UNGC’), we support the creation of an inclusive, prosperous and sustainable society for all. Although our group activities are aligned with most of the SDGs, nine resonate with our priority areas:
SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING FRAMEWORKS
We are on a journey to improve the quality of our sustainability data, our sustainability performance, and how we report on sustainability to our stakeholders, taking into consideration voluntary and mandatory sustainability reporting frameworks.
We apply our material themes, as outlined in our sustainability framework, to the following voluntary frameworks to guide our sustainability reporting: JSE Sustainability Disclosure Guidance and the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, IFRS S1 and S2. At this stage, the group is not subject to mandatory sustainability reporting frameworks. Considering the complexity of sustainability reporting and the vast data requirements, we do not fully align with the above voluntary frameworks. However, we endeavour to improve this alignment over time where it is practical for the group.
We discuss our sustainability priority areas in the context of our material themes. Read more here:
Creating an engaged workforce
Delivering social value
Driving resource efficiency
Adhering to responsible business practices
We discuss our remaining sustainability theme, creating economic value, throughout our integrated report and in our 2025 AFS.