ESG
A regenerative approach to business that focuses on creating both social and economic value.
APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability is embedded in our purpose to inspire people by building exceptional businesses that create lasting economic and social value, and is aligned with our values: to lead responsibly, to respect society, to value the environment, to embrace diversity, to respect our people, and to innovate relentlessly.
R74 million invested in enterprise and supplier development (FY23)
R24 million contributed
to social development
projects (FY23)
Disposed of 11 864 tonnes of waste (FY23)
557 511 tCO2e
absorbed for 2022
calendar year
R131 million invested in training and development (FY23)
RESPONSIBILITY FOR SUSTAINABILITY
Our board is ultimately responsible for sustainability in the group and delegates the oversight and monitoring of sustainability matters to the social and ethics committee. The relevant focus areas, policies and frameworks pertaining to sustainability matters are set at a KAP (corporate) level and, with their support, are adopted by our divisions.
Read more in our corporate governance report.
OUR APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY
Our interlinked purpose outcomes are to build economically sustainable businesses; contribute to developing thriving communities; and minimise our environmental impact.
Sustainability principles are integrated into the commercial strategies of our divisions to support an integrated approach to sustainability. They are considered in our capital allocation decisions and enable our purpose. The adjacent interlinked sustainability focus areas are aligned with our purpose and our strategy to deliver value-accretive growth for our stakeholders.
UN SDGs
In October 2020, we became a signatory to the UNGC, signalling our intent to support the creation of an inclusive, prosperous and sustainable society for all. Although our group activities are aligned with most of the SDGs, we focus our efforts on those that have the greatest potential to drive positive change through our activities.
These include:
- Our water usage in our operations
- Creating a decent workplace for our employees
- How we produce and manage waste
- Community development
- GHG emissions
- Local municipality capacity and service delivery
ESG RATINGS
We use the FTSE4Good assessment as our ESG benchmark. Our 2023 score was 3/5 (unchanged from 2022) based on information that was in the public domain as of December 2022. We scored 3.9/5 for governance, 2.2/5 for environment and 3.3/5 for social, resulting in a total score of 3/5. Our overall score remains above the industrial sub-sector average, as well as the South African average for industrial companies.
IMPROVING SUSTAINABILITY DISCLOSURES AND PERFORMANCE
We are in the process of developing and refining a sustainability reporting framework, which aligns with our sustainability focus areas and material matters, as well as the requirements of key sustainability reporting frameworks. In conjunction with this, we are reviewing the maturity, reliability and availability of our sustainability data, to identify areas for improvement and to provide a baseline for future targets. Additionally, we aim to develop a robust data management system which, with time, will enable appropriate levels of assurance of our sustainability performance.