Environmental Social Governance

At Svanehøj, we have chosen to use the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for our ESG strategy, as they set a common direction for the entire world's development towards 2030. After a thorough process, we have selected five Sustainable Development Goals to define the work on sustainability at Svanehøj:

Engage to Sustain

Svanehøj has launched a sustainability journey following our 'Engage to Sustain' strategy. Our strategy framework is based on people and values, as we believe that people are the foundation of change. From executive management to production. Together with people and values, innovation and efficiency form the foundation for our sustainability efforts in order to achieve goals and satisfy business requirements.

This means that our path begins with a solid foundation of people and values elevated with innovation and efficiency. A realistic roadmap and cross-functional governance provide the organisational backbone, and emphasis on education and peer knowledge sharing ensures that we continue to grow our capacity throughout our journey. Finally, by combining other acknowledged frameworks like the UN Sustainable Development Goals with our own approach and SMART target setting, a tangible and effective plan for leading the path towards a green transition is established.

Svanehøjs approach to Sustainability

“Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

(The Brundtland Report, 1987).

Roadmap

A realistic roadmap is critical to help us achieve our targets. The roadmap ensures that activities and sub-tasks to support our goal are in place. (See below).
Governance

Because sustainability does not only apply to just one department, cross-functional oversight and governance is necessary to guarantee that roles and responsibilities are in place to meet the targets. The governance structure supports the operational and the tactical work within Svanehøj’s sustainability engagement.
Education

Understanding the importance of sustainability becomes a key element of our business, and every employee must be aware of and act on the sustainability agenda. Education will guarantee that everyone in Savnehøj understands and has the same perception of sustainability.
Peer knowledge sharing

As part of networks that exchange practices and issues, we move faster than we do alone. Svanehøj is eager to engage with different networks and establish partnerships with other peers in both our current sector and in new ones, to address sustainability issues – and other topics.
UN Sustainable Development Goals

Our strategy combines elements for a successful and long-term transition. Working with UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and sustainability targets ensures a focused, systematic, and persuasive approach to implementing local and global sustainability efforts and initiatives.

Plan & Prepare

We have started out on our 3-year journey towards sustainability in collaboration with SustainX which we partnered with in Q4 of 2021. In 2022 we plan and prepare before we will build and implement to excel and accelerate to be able to act and drive our sector sustainably.

Materiality Assessment and selection of SDG focus areas

In Q1 2022, a Current State Analysis assessed the status of sustainability in Svanehøj. We completed an internal employee questionnaire to understand the organisation’s perception of sustainability in general and in Svanehøj specifically, before finalising a maturity matrix assessing our current maturity level of sustainability.

Our double Materiality Assessment was initiated to map all relevant ESG topics for Svanehøj according to their impact on our stakeholders and on our business. Thereby we can focus on the ESG areas that are critical to our business success, and those which are assessed most important to our stakeholders

Greenhouse Gas (CO2eq) Baseline

As part of the Engage to Sustain framework, we are calculating and establishing a CO2eq baseline for Scope 1 and 2 emissions in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting Standard (2004).

This activity is still running, and we have set Temporal Boundary to establish a baseline year of 2021 – also calculating the CO2eq emissions of 2020 to identify outliers. Organisational Boundary has been decided on Operational Control Approach, including all of Svanehøj Danmark A/S locations globally. This also creates the foundation of yearly ongoing reporting on Svanehøjs Greenhouse Gas Inventory (Scope 1 and 2). The CO2eq baseline is expected to be completed in mid-September 2022.

In 2023 Svanehøj will calculate and establish our CO2eq baseline for Scope 3 emissions (covering our value chain) in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting standard.

To calculate our Baseline(s) (for now Scope 1 and 2, later Scope 3) Svanehøj has partnered with the Swedish software provider Position Green. They provide us with a solid and scalable platform for our sustainability reporting – climate accounting for now, but other Environmental, Social or Governance areas can be covered later. Building and having a dedicated system for our ESG governance is the right foundation for moving forward in our ESG performance.

Internal Education & Involvement

Svanehøj will carry out an internal training program on sustainability based on the the UN Sustainable Development Goals which we focus on. The training program is the first initiative in the educational pillar of the Engage to Sustain strategy framework (see above).

Ambassador Corps

The Ambassador Corps is a change management program to accommodate the green transition among our employees. In transitioning to a more sustainable company, employees will experience changes in their ways of working. When all employees are involved in the process it ensures a smoother journey towards the green transition.

The Ambassador Corps aims to

Ease the transition to a more sustainable company.
Ensures employer involvement.

The Ambassador Corps will be rolled out in Q3-Q4 of 2022.