GRI 102-15 Key impacts, risks and opportunities

For Geberit, sustainability means bringing about a sustained improvement in people’s standard of living through innovative sanitary products and thereby generating long-term added value for customers, society and investors. This means striking a balance in decision-making processes between economic, environmental and social aspects. One focal point of Geberit involves identifying important technological and social trends in good time in dialogue with stakeholders and developing suitable products and services for customers that also generate added value for other stakeholders. The long-term orientation minimises risks for business development that are not only of a purely financial nature but arise from social developments and environmental challenges, such as climate change and water scarcity.

Geberit has a long commitment to sustainability and has thus followed a long-term environmental and sustainability strategy since 1990 that includes both ongoing and future projects, initiatives and activities. Each module in the strategy contains clear responsibilities with measurable objectives, derived measures and quantifiable key figures for effective monitoring. The Materiality analysis, which is used as a basis for the established Sustainability strategy and was carried out in 2016 based on the GRI Standards (2016), prioritises the key topics for Geberit and simultaneously highlights the areas in which added value for stakeholders is created. These are as follows:

• resource-efficient and sustainable sanitary systems for water management in buildings,
• water-saving and sustainable products,
• environmentally friendly and resource-efficient production,
• comprehensive, measurable climate change mitigation that is geared towards implementation,
• a supply chain and logistics which satisfy high environmental and ethical standards,
• good and safe working conditions for all employees.

Social responsibility is realised among other things within the scope of diverse, local activities for inclusive jobs and global social projects relating to the core competencies of water and sanitary facilities.

When providing information on its commitment to sustainability, Geberit also relies on the requirements of established rating agencies. In this way, Geberit serves the growing needs of customers, suppliers, investors and other stakeholders for transparency and comparability, with the rapidly increasing number of reporting standards and ratings making a focus increasingly necessary. Various awards and rankings serve to confirm Geberit’s role as a leader in sustainability in various stakeholder groups’ perceptions. For example, Geberit attained Platinum status on the EcoVadis platform for sustainable supply chains for the second year running in the reporting year.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) define concrete targets for 17 different themes, which the states are required to implement by 2030. Integration of the economy plays a pivotal role in implementing these targets and indicators. As a result, major opportunities with growth potential are also arising for companies geared towards sustainable products and services – such as Geberit. In accordance with the assessment of the external Stakeholder Panel, Geberit sees its contribution above all in four UN Sustainable Development Goals. The contributions to goal number 6 “Ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”, number 8 “Promote sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all”, number 9 “Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation” and number 11 “Make cities safe, resilient and sustainable” are included in the SDG Reporting from Geberit. The major economic, environmental and social effects of Geberit’s operations also lie in these four areas.

Geberit combats risks posed by increasing regulation and changing framework conditions with an effective compliance system that focuses on compliance in the key topic areas of antitrust legislation, corruption, data protection, product liability, fundamental employee rights, and environment, health and safety. Risks associated with climate change are integrated in risk management. Reporting on how climate risks are dealt with is gradually being expanded, see GRI 201-2.