Engaging with stakeholders on our material issues
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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.
Stakeholder groups
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
- 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
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
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Key partnerships
Here are just a few examples of the many collaborations and initiatives that Givaudan is involved in around the world.
Commitments and calls to action
Memberships and collaborations
Reporting
Assessments and ratings
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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).
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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.
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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.
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Our performance to date has been externally recognised by various organisations, including EcoCert, CDP and Sustainalytics.
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