Letter to GF’s stakeholders

Dear readers,

The year 2020 will be remembered for the consequences of the global COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted our lives. While the crisis is ongoing, the focus has shifted towards the rollout of vaccination programs. We keep a positive outlook on the future and believe GF is well positioned to achieve its vision to become a sustainability and innovation leader providing superior customer value.

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The 2020 strategy cycle has come to an end. During this period, GF reduced its accident rate by more than 40%, its energy intensity by 12%, and water intensity by 40%. In 2020, the Wall Street Journal listed GF as one of the ten most sustainable companies worldwide. Furthermore, CDP upgraded GF to an A- (Leadership) level for its management of risks and opportunities related to climate change and water security. These highlights caught the attention of investors and sustainability experts.

To better embed sustainability in our management, we formed a new Sustainability Committee within our Board of Directors, strengthening our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) focus at the highest organizational level. At the same time, 2020 was also the year the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors approved the new Strategy 2025. This new strategic direction includes a set of eight sustainability targets to achieve GF’s vision and addresses its most material environmental and social topics. GF’s goal is to increase the rate of products with social or environmental benefits to over 70% of the total sales. Our climate ambition is to achieve a 12.5% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms. GF also set targets on responsible supply chain management, diversity and inclusion, employee engagement, and health and safety.

One thing is clear: GF’s strategic direction is ambitious.

GF will announce a comprehensive climate target that is in line with the Paris Agreement and the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in 2022. We will disclose not only the climate change-related risks, but more importantly,  will also identify the resulting opportunities to further align our business model for an even more sustainable future. In this respect, GF intends to publish its first report in accordance with the guidelines of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) by 2022. These are important elements to enable GF to realize its vision.

I invite you to read more about these and other topics in the Sustainability Report 2020 for a complete view of all our activities.

    

Andreas Müller

CEO of GF

https://sustainability-report.georgfischer.com/20/en/wp-json/public/posts/