Tag Archives: Sedex

ESG/CSR, News

Sedex identifies 10 vital data points to demystify ESG reporting

Latest report from Sedex identifies the essential business and supply chain data to support companies’ sustainability goals and effective ESG reporting

London 6 July 2022 – A new report from Sedex, the trusted partner for environment, social and governance (ESG) and sustainability data, identifies the key data to collect for businesses looking to conduct effective ESG reporting.

ESG has become a business priority, as companies respond to investors’ increased interest in social and environmental performance. But a lack of reporting standards, with varying requirements across different ratings providers and frameworks, makes it incredibly challenging for businesses to meet ESG demands efficiently.

Data and technology provide essential solutions to this challenge. Capturing the right information equips a company to achieve ESG goals and supports other sustainability activities, such as producing modern slavery statements and demonstrating tangible progress against targets.

Data to meet multiple sustainability goals

Sedex has identified the data businesses need most to meet ESG demands, and which feeds into many other sustainability-related activities. Gathering this data can save companies time, reducing duplication and effort, and helping build supply chain visibility to make more informed decisions.

The 10 data areas:

  • Air emissions
  • Water use
  • Physical waste
  • Worker demographics
  • Accident and injury occurrences
  • Worker access to freedom of association
  • Modern slavery risks and occurrences
  • Gender pay gap
  • Corruption risks and occurrences
  • Governance bodies

See Notes to Editors for full descriptions

Data-led technology and tools enable businesses to collect, store, share and report on this data at scale across global operations and supply chains. Sedex’s Radar risk tool, for example, provides over 340,000 risk scores across countries and industries for businesses to compare social and environmental risks around the world.

Jon Hancock, CEO at Sedex, says: “Data on a business’s operations, employees and supply chain is crucial for identifying and tackling social and environmental sustainability issues, and evidencing a company’s ESG impact in a credible way. This data, and the insight it brings, also supports many other business benefits – including more effective risk management, better response to supply chain disruption, and improved reputation with stakeholders including consumers.

“We empower companies to do this with our solutions, including bespoke support on a company’s particular ESG and sustainability needs, and the tools to execute activities at scale. Businesses can capture the data they need in the most efficient way.”

View the full insights report on the 10 core data points here: https://resources.sedex.com/10-data-points-for-esg-reporting/

ESG/CSR, News

Sedex drives better ESG risk assessment with 340,000+ data points

Sedex’s leading risk assessment tool – Radar – offers the latest insights across countries, sectors and issues

London, 7th June – Sedex, the trusted partner for environment, social and governance (ESG) and sustainable data, has released an update to its industry-leading risk assessment technology. The Radar tool provides businesses with more than 340,000 risk scores to identify and compare supply chain risks globally.

Companies face increasing demands from customers, investors and regulators to manage sustainability risks. This can place significant pressure on business resources – but equipped with Radar’s data, insights, and analysis features, companies can manage these risks effectively across supply chains spanning continents and industries.

Sedex has updated the data in the proprietary risk tool to ensure Radar remains at the forefront of risk analysis technology, empowering businesses to efficiently assess, benchmark and report on social and environmental risk across commodities and sectors.

Radar’s risk scores cover 14 issue areas for 248 countries* and 99 industries, across risks such as forced labour, business ethics, and environmental issues. The higher the score, the higher the risk. The tool also incorporates data on the thousands of people and work sites in a company’s supply chain where this is available, providing increased insight with a unique risk score for every site.

The scores are calculated by a custom algorithm that draws on the latest data from authoritative sources on social and environmental risks. These include the World Bank, the International Labour Organization, and the International Trade Union Confederation’s Global Rights Index. A new source for 2022 ensures Radar’s health and safety scores reflect the increasing risk to workers’ health from climate change [1].

Sedex member Waitrose & Partners says, “Responsible sourcing is at the heart of Waitrose & Partners, as we are a co-owned business that prides itself on ensuring the lives of all workers is respected. We are able to champion responsible sourcing through ethical supply chain due diligence by using Radar, as it allows us to analyse site-level risks to ascertain where there are risks and how salient they are. We then use this information to determine audit frequency for the next stage of our ethical compliance programme.”

Radar enables businesses to assess different suppliers, products and sectors at scale, saving time and money. Its in-depth insights support companies to make data-driven decisions, focus their resources on the highest-priority risks, and take action to drive meaningful, sustainable impact.

“Supply chains are long and complex, with businesses often unaware of the risks they face. The right technology and data is critical for a company to build visibility of all their suppliers and understand where the greatest risks are, to respond accordingly. We provide businesses with a scalable, manageable way to do this, so they can prioritise their efforts and ultimately run more transparent, sustainable operations,” says Jon Hancock, CEO at Sedex.

Sedex member Remy Cointreau says, “Radar is an integral part of our supplier risk assessment and management process. We use the tool to build visibility of suppliers’ risk levels across nearly two hundred work sites, and can monitor these at scale. We create a criticality grid using the risk scores to help us focus our risk management activities. If suppliers are in a high-risk zone, we conduct corporate social responsibility (CSR) audits and develop action plans to reduce the level of risk at work sites.”

Sedex member Agrial Fresh Produce says, “Radar has been an integral tool in the creation of Agrial Fresh Produce’s supplier ethical risk assessment. Its intuitive user interface, coupled with the deep insight that the data provided, was invaluable in our journey to mapping the ethical composition of our entire worldwide supply base – enabling us to implement strategies to minimise our exposure to high-risk suppliers.”

[1] The ND-GAIN Country Index from the University of Notre Dame, which summarises a country’s vulnerability to climate change and other global challenges in combination with its readiness to improve resilience.

Notes

*includes some overseas territories, e.g. French Polynesia

News

Sedex report highlights inequalities and risks for women in agriculture, alongside solutions to progress gender equality in supply chains

London, 8 March 2022: This International Women’s Day, Sedex releases a report which reveals inequalities, challenges and risks for women working in agriculture. The findings, released today in the report “Progressing gender equality in agriculture”, provide crucial insight and actions for organisations sourcing from agricultural industries, supporting to drive gender equality in supply chains.

An estimated 28% of people working globally are in the agricultural sector [1], making it a major employer that many businesses are connected to through their supply chain. Agriculture is also one of the world’s most hazardous industries for workers [2].

Women comprise about 43% of agricultural workers [3]. While this work provides crucial economic opportunities, female workers in agriculture are often more exposed to physical, financial and other risks than their male counterparts. Understanding these risks and what actions businesses should take to address them are key to progressing gender equality in supply chains, with gender-disaggregated data a key enabler.

“Sedex’s insights into women’s working situations in agriculture help organisations to identify risks, focus their efforts, address negative impacts, and drive positive change for female workers. These activities are more crucial than ever, as businesses face growing pressure from investors, consumers and governments to operate more responsibly and sustainably.” Jessica McGoverne, Director of Policy and Corporate Affairs at Sedex

High-risk issues within agriculture vary between countries, but some are consistently high, including insufficient wages and irregular employment – with women often more vulnerable. Gender stereotypes and the roles women have at work also make them vulnerable to many risks that are already high for agricultural workers. Multiple factors, including age, ethnicity, and religion, can intersect to increase this vulnerability.

Women are more likely than men to be in lower-paid roles with less decision-making power. Women tend to be excluded from leadership roles. At agricultural sites in Sedex data, women make up only 21% of manager positions and 31% of supervisor positions, and accounted for only 38% of promotions from 2020-2021. This lack of representation can detract from progressing gender equality.

Women are underrepresented in structures that act as enablers for change.

Alongside underrepresentation in management roles, Sedex data shows women comprise only 38% of worker committee members in agriculture work sites.

“Gathering gender-disaggregated data and assessing risk is crucial for protecting workers and improving gender equality. Sedex members are able to access and model data that helps to assess where risks of irresponsible behaviour in supply chains exists. This allows organisations to focus resources in the areas that need the most improvement – whether in terms of gender equality and representation or other factors like health and safety risk assessment. Sedex provides a platform, tools and consulting services to aid companies to improve their sourcing practices”, says McGoverne.

[1] https://ilostat.ilo.org/100-statistics-on-the-ilo-and-the-labour-market/ – no.36

[2] https://www.ilo.org/safework/areasofwork/hazardous-work/WCMS_110188/lang–en/index.htm

[3] https://www.cgiar.org/news-events/news/cgiar-celebrates-international-womens-day-2021/