Our sustainability strategy has been endorsed at the highest level in our business and is embedded into all our operations.
Responsibility for oversight of impacts, risks and opportunities are, at Board level, the Social Responsibility Committee and the Audit and Risk Committee of the Board of Directors.
The Social Responsibility Committee of the Board of Directors establishes principles governing social and environmental management and oversees the performance management to achieve our sustainability goals (social and environmental). It establishes and operates a council responsible for developing and implementing policies and strategies to achieve the Company’s social responsibility and environmental goals (in all environmental, social and governance pillars, such as climate change, water stewardship, packaging and waste, sustainable sourcing, health and nutrition, our people and communities, and biodiversity). It ensures Group-wide capabilities to execute these policies and strategies, and approves our sustainability strategy, commitments, targets and policies.
The function of the Audit and Risk Committee is to serve as an independent and objective body with oversight of the Group’s accounting policies, financial reporting, and disclosure controls and procedures; the Group’s approach to internal control and risk management; the quality, adequacy, and scope of internal and external audit functions; and the Group’s compliance with legal, regulatory and financial reporting requirements. In addition, the external auditor reports directly to the Committee.
Our CEO and the ELT are ultimately accountable for performance against our sustainability goals and for the execution of our sustainability agenda. The Sustainability Steering Committee (‘Sustainability SteerCo’), led by the CEO and including members from various functions such as Supply Chain, Procurement, Corporate Affairs & Sustainability, Finance and Commercial, meets regularly. During these meetings, they discuss performance, approve new strategic initiatives and allocate resources. Sustainability SteerCo, through its respective ELT members, is responsible for:
- setting corporate sustainability targets
- measuring progress towards environmental and social corporate targets
- conducting environmental scenario analysis
- managing public policy engagement related to environmental and social issues
- implementing business strategies related to sustainability (environmental and social) issues
- managing acquisitions, mergers and divestitures related to environmental and social issues
- overseeing major capital and/or operational expenditures related to environmental and social issues
- assessing the results of environmental dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities; providing employee incentives related to sustainability performance
- implementing a climate transition plan
- managing sustainability reporting, audit and verification processes
- measuring progress towards science-based environmental targets and social targets.
The reporting lines for the governance structure on sustainability extend from the Board level, and further downwards to the ELT, and the Group level to the BU and country level. This vertical and horizontal interaction ensures a robust interface among committees, teams and leadership, facilitating the sharing of responsibilities for various aspects of sustainability.
The Sustainability SteerCo receives regular information and updates on sustainability issues from various departments, who own the respective agenda, such as the:
- Corporate Sustainability team, which monitors and reports on the Company’s Mission 2025 commitments (our environmental and social targets), sustainability projects, stakeholders’ engagement and external ESG trends
- Business Resilience team, which facilitates, in collaboration with various Group and BU functions, the identification, assessment and development and monitoring of management plans for all principal risks and opportunities, including those relating to climate change
- Quality, Safety and Environment (QSE) and Engineering teams, which explore and evaluate new technologies and partnerships that can enhance the Company’s environmental performance and competitiveness
- People and Culture team, which monitors and reports on some of the social targets and KPIs, projects and diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) agenda
- Procurement team, which monitors sustainable sourcing and suppliers’ engagement.
At the local/market (business unit) level, our business unit General Managers (GMs) have frontline responsibility for: monitoring the local business unit sustainability performance regularly; localising sustainability strategy for their market/ business unit; and prioritising the local initiatives.
Together with the local leadership teams, our GMs are responsible for the execution of sustainability goals at market/business unit level.
