Indirect economic impacts (GRI 203)
Management approach indirect economic impacts
Indirect economic impacts arise primarily as side effects from direct economic action. Geberit is aware of these effects and the associated responsibility.
With its innovative solutions for sanitary products, Geberit aims to achieve sustained improvement in people’s standard of living. The economy benefits from Geberit’s leading role in the change towards a more sustainable sanitary industry: through the contribution to better sanitary and hygiene standards, a durable, resource-efficient sanitary infrastructure, through know-how transfer in the sanitary industry, via impetus for the economy in regional economic areas, and through strong and long-term relationships with suppliers. There is no management approach to indirect economic impacts in the narrower sense. Instead, the company works with the stakeholders concerned to identify the best solutions in each case.
Significant indirect economic impacts (GRI 203-2)
Geberit forms part of the value chain in the construction industry. It has significant indirect economic impacts for the employees, on the customer side at sanitary engineers, plumbers and end users, as well as at suppliers and transport companies. Continuous investment in the production plants in Europe, China, India and the USA, as well as the logistics centre in Germany, will strengthen these individual economic areas.
Geberit know-how and Geberit products and system solutions significantly reduce the burden on water and drainage systems, thus reducing the associated costs and consumption of resources. According to one model calculation, all dual-flush and flush-stop cisterns installed since 1998 have so far saved around 42,050 million m3 of water in comparison with traditional flushing systems. In 2022 alone, the water saved amounted to 3,840 million m3.
Geberit is committed to sustainable sanitary systems which, as elements in construction, help to shape the infrastructure as a whole. For example, Geberit actively worked on adapting the applicable standard for the dimensioning of waste water piping to smaller diameters. This is important so that the full functionality of the drainage system is ensured and fewer incidents with the corresponding costs occur, even with lower quantities of waste water. Similar to its work in the field of waste water hydraulics, Geberit also played a major part in ensuring that sound insulation and fire protection, as well as hygiene in drinking water and sanitary facilities, have been developed to the benefit of the end user and laid down in standards and recommendations.
Geberit lends impetus to the sanitary industry with innovation and new products that are sold and installed worldwide by wholesalers, plumbers and sanitary engineers. During the reporting year, around 48,000 professionals were provided with training on Geberit products, tools, software tools and installation skills at 30 Geberit Information Centres in Europe and overseas, see Business Report > Business and financial review > Financial Year 2022 > Customers. In this way, Geberit supports innovation, growth and value added in the sanitary industry.
Furthermore, Geberit is an important employer for the communities around its sites, with employees generating local value added. Added to this is Geberit’s contribution as a training company for apprentices. At the end of 2022, Geberit employed 283 apprentices, thus supporting training in different countries, see also GRI 404.
The indirect economic impact on suppliers and transport companies is also significant. In 2022, Geberit procured goods amounting to CHF 1,136 million (previous year CHF 1,061 million) and had business relations with a total of 1,710 direct suppliers. Geberit does not have its own transport fleet and therefore generates orders for external transport companies.