Sustainability governance and performance
Sustainability is a Board matter as per our Organizational Regulations. Executive remuneration is linked to progress on key sustainability performance indicators, with accountabilities allocated to individual members of the Group Executive Committee.
Chaired by our CEO, the Sustainability Committee, jointly with the Supervisory and Strategy Committee, leads and controls progress on sustainability, including climate-related risks and human rights topics. It defines operational targets, drives implementation, and ensures integration across the business. The Sustainability Committee is formed by the members of the Group Executive Committee. It includes leaders of major corporate functions. The Sustainability Committee meets as part of the regular meetings of the Group Executive Committee.
The Corporate Sustainability Office advises, recommends, and proposes how to integrate sustainability into the business, including external commitments, target-setting and tracking progress. It supports the CFO, who leads the annual reporting on corporate sustainability performance, which is approved by the Board of Directors. The Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Supervisory and Strategy Committee receive quarterly updates on progress.
Our reporting standards
Reporting transparently on ESG performance is essential for business efficiency and to maintain the trust of all our stakeholders. It is a central tool in our performance measurement approach. Reporting helps to keep us on track and accountable.
Aligning with Group financial reporting, our consolidation scope includes the entities covered in the Group consolidated financial statements. The list of material Group companies is presented in Schindler’s Financial Statements 2022. Our sustainability performance data cover the period from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022.
Since our first sustainability report in 2012, we have been aligning our disclosures with the GRI standards and have updated our materiality assessment to meet the revised standards this year. Since 2020, we have disclosed the sector-specific SASB accounting metrics for electrical and electronic equipment which is published in our Corporate Responsibility Report. We support the recommendations of the TCFD and are preparing for new reporting requirements from the EU and Switzerland. These will be reflected in subsequent reports.
In addition, we have responded to CDP since 2015 and used EcoVadis since 2019 to share sustainability performance information with investors and our customers. We regularly engage with external stakeholders to understand their information needs on ESG performance and enhance our disclosures.
Our EcoVadis 2022 assessment resulted in a Gold rating, placing us in the top 6% in our industry, while we were recognized with an “A” score for transparency on climate change by CDP, the global environmental non-profit organization. Out of more than 15 000 companies scored, only a small number secure a place on the “A List.”
Management and performance improvement of sustainability data is key for robust ESG reporting and achieving goals. We collect data using a professional performance management software called Sphera. Quality control is performed at country and global levels to ensure accuracy.
Our sustainability performance is verified by a third party, the consultancy company Swiss Climate Ltd., that has provided moderate-level assurance on our carbon footprint data (scope 1 and 2), in accordance with AA1000 Assurance Standard (AA1000AS v3) and the four main sustainability KPIs of our 2022 Road Map.
