


Engaging with stakeholders on our material issues
Listening and responding to our priority stakeholders is a core part of our sustainability management approach. These stakeholders are the people who affect our business or who are affected by it.
The feedback we receive from these stakeholders helps us to understand their expectations and prioritise issues effectively. This informs our overall sustainability approach and our ability to deliver against shared sustainability goals.
We have identified seven stakeholder groups: Customers, Suppliers, Employees, Owners and Investors, Local communities, Public and Regulatory Agencies, Innovators and partners which are currently of primary importance to our sustainability approach.
Material topics
Our list of material topics is mapped against the GRI Standards topics, our purpose pillars, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Principles and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to show that they are fully consistent with the most commonly used sustainability frameworks.
Materiality topic | Equivalent GRI topic | Purpose pillar | UNGC Principles | SDG mapping |
Biodiversity | GRI 304: Biodiversity |
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Principle 8 |
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Climate change | GRI 202-2: Financial implications and other risks and opportunities due to climate change GRI 301: Materials GRI 302: Energy GRI 305: Emissions |
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Principle 7,8,9 |
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Consumer health & wellbeing | GRI 415: Customer health and safety |
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Diversity, inclusion & people development |
GRI 102-8: Information on employees and other workers GRI 202: Market presence GRI 401: Employment GRI 404: Training and education GRI 405: Diversity and equal opportunity GRI 406: Non-discrimination |
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Principle 6 |
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Economic performance | GRI 201: Economic performance |
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Employee safety, health & wellbeing |
GRI 403: Occupational health and safety |
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Governance & business conduct / ethics / transparency |
GRI 102-11: Precautionary Principle or approach GRI 102-16: Values, principles, standards, and norms of behaviour |
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Principle 10 |
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Human rights | GRI 102-41: Collective bargaining agreements GRI 402: Labour/management relations GRI 407: Freedom of association and collective bargaining GRI 408: Child labour GRI 409: Forced or compulsory labour GRI 412: Human rights assessment GRI 414: Supplier social assessment |
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Principle 1,2,3,4,5 |
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Innovation capabilities & management |
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Principle 8,9 |
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Local community development | GRI 203: Indirect economic impacts GRI 413: Local communities |
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Principle 1 |
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Product / ingredients environmental & social performance | GRI 301: Materials GRI 302: Energy GRI 305: Emissions GRI 416: Customer health and safety |
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Principle 7,8,9 |
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Product quality & safety and ingredient disclosure | GRI 416: Customer health and safety GRI 417: Marketing and labelling |
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Raw materials availability | GRI 301: Materials |
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Responsible sourcing & traceability | GRI 102-9: Supply chain GRI 204: Procurement practices GRI 308: Supplier environmental assessment GRI 407: Freedom of association and collective bargaining GRI 408: Child labour GRI 409: Forced on compulsory labour GRI 412: Human rights assessment GRI 414: Supplier social assessment |
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Principle 1,2,4,8,10 |
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Waste management & circular principles | GRI 306: Waste |
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Principle 8 |
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Water stewardship | GRI 303: Water and effluents |
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Principle 8 |
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Creations | Nature | People | Communities |
Partnerships and initiatives
We strongly believe that working together is key to achieving a more sustainable society. We also believe that it’s important to look beyond our own business and see the ‘bigger picture’ when it comes to sustainability.
From addressing global water challenges to promoting sustainable palm oil, we engage in numerous external initiatives and strategic collaborations with relevant organisations and partners. Collaboration across our supply chain as well as with other businesses and non-profit organisations is essential; the more we do together, the quicker we drive sustainable solutions, while meeting our customers’ needs and expectations.
Key partnerships
Here are just a few examples of the many collaborations and initiatives that Givaudan is involved in around the world.
The UN Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses committed to supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. We have been a signatory of the UN Global Compact since February 2010 and we measure our progress towards sustainability against its principles. We endorsed the CEO Water Mandate in March 2020, reflecting our ambitious targets on water and our commitment to water stewardship. We have aligned our target to reduce scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 70% between 2015 and 2030 with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a collaboration between CDP, Water Resources Institute (WRI), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). Sedex (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange) is a not-for-profit membership organisation dedicated to driving improvements in responsible and ethical business practices in global supply chains. We engage with Sedex to better assess both our production sites and suppliers. The Earthworm Foundation is a global non-profit organisation focused on transforming supply chains for the benefit of nature and people. The Foundation supports Givaudan in implementing its Responsible Sourcing Programme through supply chain assessments and, where needed, co-designing innovative solutions with supply chain partners that create value for all. Reflecting our commitment to eliminate deforestation from our supply chain, we are an active member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). This international, multi-stakeholder organisation aims to advance the production, procurement, finance and use of sustainable palm oil products. Reflecting our commitment to transparency, we communicate about our progress according to the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) frameworks for sustainability reporting. As the most widely used global framework for reporting, GRI creates a common language for organisations to report their impacts, making it easier to track and compare progress. Our performance to date has been externally recognised by various organisations, including EcoCert, CDP and Sustainalytics. Since 2008, we have also completed the annual EcoVadis CSR assessment and, ranking in the top-performing category since 2015. In 2020, we were ranked among the top 1% of the EcoVadis CSR assessment, achieving its highest accolade, the platinum medal.