Engaging with stakeholders on our material issues
Our sustainability management approach
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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, Investors and shareholders, Local communities, Public and Regulatory Agencies, Innovators and partners which are currently of primary importance to our sustainability approach.
Customers
Suppliers
Employees
Investors and shareholders
Local communities
Public and regulatory agencies
Innovators and partners
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Strong engagement with our customers enables us to understand their needs and anticipate market trends. Through preference discovery platforms and consumer insight programmes we are able to understand and anticipate consumer preferences and adapt to cultural tastes.
How we engage
Customer sustainability requests
Audits
Customer innovation days
Customer and industry conferences and events
Key account manager relationships – ongoing dialogue
Use of consumer insight programmes for consumer understanding, cultural insights and sensorial decoding
Leveraging digital capabilities to enhance insights in consumer trends
Key topics and concerns discussed
Climate change
Consumer health and wellbeing
Governance and business conduct / ethics / transparency
Human rights
Innovation capabilities and management
Product / ingredient environmental and social performance
Product quality and safety; and ingredient disclosure
Responsible sourcing and traceability
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Our suppliers are genuine partners, and we work with them towards mutual value creation: open dialogue secures a pipeline of technological innovation through supplier enabled innovation; supplier engagement and collaboration ensure our suppliers have high standards in business ethics and respect for people and the environment.
How we engage
Assessments
Supplier audits
Collaborations to improve performance
Multi-stakeholder groups
Supplier events: capacity building, discussing issues
Direct engagement with supplier relationship managers
Key topics and concerns discussed
Climate change
Human rights
Innovation capabilities and management
Raw material availability
Responsible sourcing and traceability
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We engage with our people to foster an environment of open dialogue to mutually resolve conflicts, to identify development initiatives and innovative ideas that will help drive our business. We cannot achieve our goals without a true sense of unity and a workplace where we all love to be and grow.
How we engage
Works Council consultations
Employee engagement surveys
Annual performance dialogue
Talent management processes
Learning and development opportunities
Ongoing dialogue with Givaudan Green Teams
Imagine – employee community management platform
Key topics and concerns discussed
Climate change
Diversity, inclusion and people development
Employee health, safety and wellness
Governance and business conduct / ethics / transparency
Human rights
Innovation capabilities and management
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Our active dialogue with the capital market ensures transparency and helps us improve our reporting practices. Our relationship with debt investors, banks and credit rating agencies ensures we have funding for investment opportunities.
How we engage
Annual General Meeting
Annual investor conferences and investor road shows
Briefings with analysts
Conferences with investors and other financial stakeholders
Key topics and concerns discussed
Climate change
Diversity, inclusion and people development
Economic performance
Environmental, social and governance
Governance and business conduct / ethics / transparency
Innovation capabilities and management
Raw material availability
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Open dialogue fosters good relations and enables us to work together with communities and neighbourhoods on projects and causes that benefit local communities, help protect local ecosystems and support livelihoods.
How we engage
Community development programme survey
Local site community engagement programme
Ongoing dialogue with local authorities and community organisations
Employees engaged in social activities within the communities in which we operate
Givaudan Foundation
Local partners (NGOs or cooperatives) acting as Givaudan agents
Key topics and concerns discussed
Biodiversity
Climate change
Diversity, inclusion and people development
Governance and business conduct / ethics / transparency
Human rights
Local community development
Product / ingredient environmental and social performance
Responsible sourcing and traceability
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Engagement and collective action with external partners are essential in order to inspire and lead by example as a responsible business. Only collective action can influence decisions. We engage with local governments and regulators to understand the changes, their concerns and find mutually beneficial solutions.
How we engage
United Nations Global Compact
International Fragrance Association (IFRA)
International Organization of the Flavor Industry (IOFI)
WBCSD
AIM-PROGRESS
B Lab and B Movement Builders
CDP
EcoVadis
Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI)
Together for Sustainability (TfS)
Key topics and concerns discussed
Climate change
ESG topics (Environmental, Social & Governance)
Governance and business conduct / ethics / transparency
Human rights
Product / ingredient environmental and social performance
Product quality and safety; and ingredient disclosure
Responsible sourcing and traceability
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We engage in innovative partnerships to go beyond our own internal capabilities and seek out the extended possibilities and opportunities that collaboration can bring. This allows us to access the latest trends in innovation, to extend our innovation ecosystem to the global level and to accelerate our efforts in this domain.
How we engage
Global network of accelerators and incubators
Partnerships with innovators, accelerators and with academia
Plugged into disruptive and digital trends
Co-creation and co-innovation opportunities
Key topics and concerns discussed
Climate change
Consumer health and wellbeing
Innovation capabilities and management
Product / ingredient environmental and social performance
Product quality and safety; and ingredient disclosure
Material topics
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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 7,8,9 |
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| Climate change | 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 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 GRI 204: Procurement practices |
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| Employee safety, health & wellbeing |
GRI 403: Occupational health and safety |
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| Governance & business conduct / ethics / transparency |
GRI 205: Anti-corruption GRI 402: Labour/management relations GRI 407: Freedom of association and and collective bargaining |
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Principle 2,3,4,6,10 |
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| Human rights |
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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 1,2 |
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| Product / ingredients environmental & social performance |
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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 308: Supplier environmental assessment GRI 408: Child labour GRI 409: Forced on compulsory labour GRI 414: Supplier social assessment |
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Principle 1,2,4,5,8,10 |
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| Waste management & circular principles | GRI 306: Waste |
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Principle 7,8,8 |
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| Water stewardship | GRI 303: Water and effluents |
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Principle 7,8,9 |
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| Creations | Nature | People | Communities |
Partnerships and initiatives
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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+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. 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. 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 2022, we were ranked in the top 3% of the EcoVadis CSR assessment, achieving the gold medal.
Commitments and calls to action
Memberships and collaborations
Reporting
Assessments and ratings
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