Sustainability

Passionate about the ongoing success of our people, our business, and the communities around us.

For our communities

We strive to help shape the future by driving sustainable development around us through education and knowledge, including supporting the sustainable and positive development of the society in which we work and live. To offer education is to make a long-term investment in people and, ultimately, in communities.

With a presence in so many countries all over the world, our Groups are uniquely positioned to understand the challenges and needs of their local communities and are encouraged to initiate and support local projects. By supporting educational programmes, we enable people to support themselves.

In recognition of all the great initiatives that take place locally, a Lapwing Award is presented to the best projects each year. The award encourages and acknowledges all the great work being done throughout SHV with respect to "Start from the Heart" activities.

For our planet

Our ambition is to execute sustainable sourcing, production and distribution of our products and reduce (in)direct greenhouse gas emissions.

As greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to rise, climate change is happening faster than anticipated – and the effects are being felt worldwide.

We believe the only effective way to reduce our global carbon footprint is by combining our efforts, and intend to reduce our GHG emissions by at least 30% by 2030. This target includes both direct GHG emissions generated by business activities, and indirect emissions from the purchase of fuels and electricity used for heating, steaming, and cooling.

Never afraid to make the right choices, we are adopting a local approach to reducing emissions throughout the business.

In 2020, the Internal Audit department assessed the carbon footprint across the whole of SHV based on four areas: Governance, Employees & Stakeholders, Data Reporting, and the CO₂ Reduction Roadmap. The assessment provided valuable insight into the maturity of CO₂ reporting in the different Groups, while bringing to light and sharing best practices and lessons learned.

For our performance

Our ambition is to deliver real impact through exceptional products and services and to grow responsibly and profitably.

We understand that while we have an important part to play in a sustainable future, we are just one piece of a vast global jigsaw. In working towards a set of established SDGs, we can add our efforts to those of numerous other organisations around the world. We also open up new possibilities to combine our actions with those of our customers, suppliers, and other partners to exponentially increase the impact we have.