Sustainable governance

Our governance structure and processes aim to engage all stakeholders transparently and contribute to the creation of a fair, inclusive business.

Robust standards, policies and management systems provide a framework for addressing risks and opportunities through operations and allow us to measure our performance and meet our commitments to stakeholders.

Our purpose drives our sustainability agenda. The Board of Directors has the oversight of all Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) aspects, including the sustainability strategy and targets. The Board tables and discusses selected ESG topics at each Board meeting. 

The Executive Committee (EC) leads Givaudan’s overall strategic direction and is accountable for our purpose and Sustainability ambitions. Topics related to purpose/sustainability ambitions form part of the regular EC meeting agenda so that progress and pending decisions can be discussed. 

Topics related to purpose/sustainability ambitions form part of the regular EC meeting agenda so that progress and pending decisions can be discussed, each purpose ambition is allocated to a specific EC member who leads the regular briefs to the Board. In addition, sessions dedicated to reviewing the overall progress and strategic direction of our ESG ambitions are half twice a year. 

The Sustainability Leadership Team led by the Global Head of Sustainability, is made up of internal experts topics linked to purpose/sustainability. They meet on a regular basis to review progress and agreed on key recommendations for the EC. 

The Purpose Management Office led by the purpose project led, is responsible for both supporting the embedding of our purpose within the business agenda at the EC and leadership team levels as well as helping identify ways of cascading it down the organisation.

The divisions and functions leadership teams integrate the purpose/sustainability ambitions into strategic plans and allocate the resources that will make the difference in delivering our purpose/sustainability agenda. 

Read more in our 2023 Integrated Report on economic and ESG performance.