Communication on Progress

Participant
Published
  • 13-Nov-2022
Time period
  • November 2021  –  November 2022
Format
  • Stand alone document – Basic COP Template
Differentiation Level
  • This COP qualifies for the Global Compact Active level
Self-assessment
  • Includes a CEO statement of continued support for the UN Global Compact and its ten principles
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Human Rights
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Labour
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Environment
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Anti-Corruption
  • Includes a measurement of outcomes
 
  • Statement of continued support by the Chief Executive Officer
  • Statement of the company's chief executive (CEO or equivalent) expressing continued support for the Global Compact and renewing the company's ongoing commitment to the initiative and its principles.

  • 11th November 2022

    To our stakeholders:

    I am pleased to confirm that SCR Sibelco N.V. reaffirms its support of the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact in the areas of Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-Corruption.
    In this annual Communication on Progress, we describe our actions to continually improve the integration of the Global Compact and its principles into our business strategy, culture and daily operations. We also commit to share this information with our stakeholders using our primary channels of communication.

    Sincerely yours,

    Hilmar Rode
    Chief Executive Officer
    SCR Sibelco NV

Human Rights
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of human rights for the company (i.e. human rights risk-assessment). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on Human Rights.

  • Sibelco supports the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
    We are committed to the protection and promotion of human rights, treating all people involved in or affected by our operations and value chain around the world with dignity and respect at all times.

    We have a Code of Conduct, published on our website, that is designed to help employees (and everyone working with Sibelco) conduct their day-today work ethically, sustainably and with integrity.
    Sibelco also expects all its suppliers and subcontractors to share, respect and adhere to human rights. This is articulated in Our Supplier Code of Conduct.

    In our 2022 Sustainability Strategy we re-confirmed Human Rights are a key focus area and announced our goal that 100% of our workforce must be trained in the Code of Conduct and Supplier Code of Conduct.

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions to implement Human Rights policies, address Human Rights risks and respond to Human Rights violations.

  • Sibelco has taken the following measures to prevent human rights violations in its operations and value chain :

    We installed a reporting line, an independent global reporting service is run by Convercent, that allows employees, suppliers and/or partners to report any behavior that is unethical, illegal or goes against the Sibelco values, our Code of Conduct and/or Supplier Code of Conduct.
    The Reportline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and allows to report in various languages, confidentially and where permitted by law, anonymously.

    As set out in our Non-Retaliation Policy, we value our people’s help in uncovering possible misconduct, but we know that raising an issue takes courage.
    We will not tolerate threats or retaliation against anyone who makes a good-faith report or participates in an investigation. No action will be taken against an employee who expresses a concern that was found to be inaccurate if the concern is expressed in good faith.

    Every concern brought to the Compliance Function will give way to an independent investigation and, if allegations are found to be substantiated, relevant remediation action plan, including disciplinary actions.

    Our employees are versed in the Code of Conduct (including human rights) and we are committed to rolling out a appropriate classroom training to all.

    We conduct risk assessments in case of M&A in a high risk countries.

    Sibelco relies on Refinitive Worldcheck software to support the engagement of ethical business partners. Said software allows for the screening of business partners against all sanctions lists, criminal records and adverse media publications.

    Recently a VP Legal Corporate Governance and Compliance and a Director Compliance were hired to strengthen, amongst other aspects, our focus on human rights.

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates performance.

  • Human rights issues are addressed in Compliance Function meetings and any concerns are escalated to the Exco.

    The Ethics Core Team discusses about all compliance investigations outcomes and monitors remediation action plans.

    Sibelco is prioritizing the reinforcement of its third party compliance program in 2023, of which human rights considerations will continue to be cornerstone.

    We ask our suppliers of raw materials to commit to the principles in our Supplier Code of Conduct, that includes human rights.

    Contraventions are documented and closely followed up. Severe non-compliances will lead to an immediate ending of the partnership and reporting to the authorities.

Labour
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of labour rights for the company (i.e. labour rights-related risks and opportunities). Description of written policies, public commitments and company goals on labour rights.

  • Our Code of Conduct, published on our website, states that :
    - Health and safety of our people, contractors and visitors is a number one priority. No job is so important that it cannot be done safely.
    - Sibelco does not tolerate any form of harassment, discrimination, bullying or disrespectful behaviour, based on gender, religion, race, national or ethnic, origin,
    cultural background, social group, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, age, political, opinion, or any other inappropriate basis.
    - Sibelco prohibits all forms of forced labour in all its operations. We condemn any kind of slavery and do not tolerate inhumane treatment, including through any
    form of physical punishment or abuse.
    - Sibelco is committed to complying with minimum wage standards and laws and we adhere to the relevant working hours laws.
    - We uphold the freedom of association and the recognition of the right to collective bargaining to ensure that employees can associate to negotiate work relations
    effectively and with a fair and equitable outcome. We expect our suppliers and business partners to uphold these core principles as well.

    We have a targeted people strategy that is focused on an engaging workplace and growth opportunities for our people through a performance-oriented culture. We make our employees a partner in their own professional development. We promote internal mobility and collectively celebrate individual and team success. We have an HR portal where the policies, guidelines and training material is made available to the organization. Our global and local HR teams are there to support.
    Our Health and Safety policies are well embedded in the organization. Sibelco is committed to providing people with a safe and healthy environment everywhere we operate, even if this means exceeding local requirements.

    We have a strong program focused on Safety & Health : “Get to Zero” that includes risk assessments and dedicated resources. Frequent training of our employees is embedded in our way of working.

    Our Executive Leadership Team signed the Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging charter in 2022 to reinforce our commitment to DIB.

    In our 2022 Sustainability Strategy we announced new ambitious goals for safety and employee well-being.

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions taken by the company to implement labour policies, address labour risks and respond to labour violations.

  • We installed a reporting line, an independent global reporting service is run by Convercent, that allows employees, suppliers or partners to report any behavior that is unethical, illegal or goes against the Sibelco values, our Code of Conduct and/or Supplier Code of Conduct.

    The Reportline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and allows to report in various languages, confidentially and where permitted by law, anonymously.
    We value our people’s help in uncovering possible misconduct, but we know that raising an issue takes courage.

    As set out in our Non-Retaliation Policy, we will not tolerate threats or retaliation against anyone who makes a good-faith report or participates in an investigation. No action will be taken against an employee who expresses a concern that was found to be inaccurate if the concern is expressed in good faith.

    Every concern brought to the Compliance Function will give way to an independent investigation and, if allegations are found to be substantiated, relevant remediation action plan, including disciplinary actions.

    Every Executive Leadership Team and Exco meeting starts with a Safety Share.

    As we uphold the freedom of association and recognize the right to collective bargaining, we have work councils (information and consultation bodies) in most countries and there is European Works Council in place. Collective bargaining agreements on different topics such as working conditions, health and safety, diversity, discrimination and harassment exist in the different jurisdictions. Further more these topics are also addressed in our employee handbooks which have been adopted within relevant affiliates e.g. Asia Pacific, Nordics (where required by law).

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates performance.

  • People

    Through our HR dashboard we measure different people related KPIs such as headcount, age, diversity, employee turnover, etc.

    Diversity :

    In terms of gender diversity, companies in the natural resources sector have typically struggled to attract and retain female employees and leaders. Sibelco introduced targets for female representation in 2019. In 2021 we took the decision to increase our level of ambition as part of the Sibelco 2025 strategy. This resulted in increasing the target of female employees as a proportion of the workforce and Executive Leadership Team (~40 top leaders in Sibelco) to 40% by 2025. In 2021 the proportion of female employees in the overall workforce increased slightly from 21% to 22%. In terms of recruitment, some 28% of new hires in 2021 were female which is a positive development in our drive to realise our 2025 ambition. The percentage of female senior leaders in the Executive Leadership Team increased from 18% at the end of 2020 to 23% at the end of 2021.
    We also refer to the activity reports published on our website.

    Health and Safety :

    Through the HS dashboard we monitor KPIs related to Safe Plants, Safe Systems and Safe People or Safety Culture. We also refer to the activity reports published on our website.

    Actions needed to mitigate risk and prevent accidents must be completed quickly. In 2021, 99.84% of actions were closed on time, exceeding our target of 99%. All actions are related to specific safety incidents or to global alerts issued across our business which help colleagues to learn from incidents at other locations and take preventative measures locally.

    Safe Operating Procedures (SOPs) ensure that good working practices are embedded across all Sibelco sites. Sites continue to develop Key SOPs targeting high risk activities and ensure a safe way of working and that all measures are taken before a job can start. A Last Minute Risk Assessment methodology re-enforces this risk assessment approach in the field. In 2021, we set the target for large sites to complete a minimum of 10 SOPs and for small sites to complete a minimum of 5. In total, 99.2% of sites achieved this objective, with 73% exceeding the target.

    Process Confirmations are an important safety leadership tool. They can be seen as Visible Personal Commitments on safety by leadership: it involves a Sibelco leader being present on site to engage with colleagues and see firsthand the implementation of safety-related activities. Many of our leaders have made this part of their daily routine, resulting in more than 11,000 Process Confirmations being performed by 1,221 colleagues over the course of 2021.

    Through the implementation of 3 levers : Engagement, Continuous Improvement and Critical Controls management we continue to improve our performance and were able to increase our ambition towards 2030 to a RIR <1,5 in 2030 and 0 fatalities.

Environment
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of environmental protection for the company (i.e. environmental risks and opportunities). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on environmental protection.

  • Our Code of Conduct states Sibelco is committed to a role of environmental leadership in all facets of our business.
    Our aim is to create a positive legacy. Environmental sustainability is an integral part of our Vision and one of our key focus areas. We want bring a positive contribution to the environments in which we operate. We focus on responsible, efficient mining and processing practices, qualitative rehabilitation and maximizing the value that the resources bring to our communities. We encourage all partners to partake in our mission.

    We have an Environmental Policy, Energy Policy and Closure Plan policy in place to ensure environmental aspects are pro-actively managed.

    We have an updated environmental risk register in place for all Sibelco sites.

    In our 2022 Sustainability Strategy we have set ambitious 2030 targets on CO2, circularity and biodiversity.

    We are committed to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity (tonnes CO2 / ex-works revenue) by 5% per year from 2021 to 2030 – cumulatively a reduction of 37% assuming the same scope of activities.
    Between 2021 and the end of 2026, we will engage with customers and suppliers that account for at least two thirds of Sibelco’s total scope 3 emissions on their use of SBTi guidance and tools to set science-based carbon emission reduction targets.

    We will increase the percentage of company revenue in circular business (glass recycling, filter sand, foundry sand, MDF etc.) ) to at least 20% by 2030.

    We aim to decrease the percentage of disturbed land of the total managed land. We establish the baseline by the end of 2022 and determine a specific target.

    We are committed that 100% of our sites with a direct or indirect impact on biodiversity and ecosystems, have a biodiversity management plan in place by 2030.
    We will restore active quarries and mines with added value for biodiversity and ecosystems. We establish the current status by the end of 2024 and measure going forward.

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions to implement environmental policies, address environmental risks and respond to environmental incidents.

  • We installed a reporting line, an independent global reporting service is run by Convercent, that allows employees, suppliers or partners to report any behavior that is unethical, illegal or goes against the Sibelco values, our Code of Conduct or Supplier Code of Conduct.

    The Reportline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and allows to report in various languages, confidentially and where permitted by law, anonymously.
    We value our people’s help in uncovering possible misconduct, but we know that raising an issue takes courage.

    As set out in our Non-Retaliation Policy, we will not tolerate threats or retaliation against anyone who makes a good-faith report or participates in an investigation. No action will be taken against an employee who expresses a concern that was found to be inaccurate if the concern is expressed in good faith.

    Every concern brought to the Compliance Function will give way to an independent investigation and, if allegations are found to be substantiated, relevant remediation action plan, including disciplinary actions.

    All environmental risks (actual and potential) are actively managed by a dedicated team and followed up through our List of Projects on Sustainability.

    We have an incident management process in place in case an environmental incident occurs.

    Our people are regularly trained on environmental topics (water, waste, biodiversity, emissions) to stay up to date with the latest changes in legislation and best practices (e.g. new environmental technologies). Depending on the topic, the training is organized by our internal Centres of Excellence or by third parties. In 2022 we organized specific training on CO2 and decarbonization as we have committed to ambitious goals that require the support of everyone in the organization.

    In this perspective we also set up dedicated cross-functional teams that specifically investigate how to improve existing installations and install new technologies on our sites (electrification, H2) to reduce carbon emissions. We refer to our climate report 2022, published on our website.
    Our de-carbonization program is in the meantime fully operational and managed by a CO2 Core Team under the guidance of the CO2 Steerco.

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates environmental performance.

  • Through the sustainability dashboard we monitor sustainability and environmental KPIs. We also refer to our activity reports and climate report published on our website.

    Our objective is to improve the site performance in all relevant environmental areas : CO2, dust, noise, (mining) waste, water, biodiversity. And we also measure improvements in areas such as community engagement, access to new reserves, land management, etc.

    A few years ago, we developed a map of excellence that allows us to track this performance and determine the maturity of a site in a specific domain (e.g. water, hazardous waste, biodiversity, etc.). We use a scale from 1 to 5 and want all our sites to reach a level 3 score (=standard). The outcomes are visualized in the sustainability dashboard and triggers continuous improvement in our sites.

Anti-Corruption
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of anti-corruption for the company (i.e. anti-corruption risk-assessment). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on anti-corruption.

  • Our Code of Conduct, published on our website, prohibits corruption & bribery in all their forms = zero tolerance; breaches may lead to disciplinary actions or termination of employment.

    We have a clear Bribery & Corrupt Practices Policy in place, setting out to all employees that any non-ethical or corrupt behavior will not be endorsed by the company.
    Gifts, Entertainment & Hospitality Policy is in place.

    Training is available for employees on anti-bribery, for employees to clearly understand the topic and how to act in case of confrontation with bribery. The Code of Conduct also indicates to immediately report any such case to the Compliance Function.

    Also, our Supplier Code of Conduct requires partners in our supply chain to uphold the highest ethical standards when doing business.
    In our 2022 Sustainability Strategy we articulated that we aim for all our employees to be trained in the Code of Conduct and Supplier Code of Conduct and we have set a goal to our people trained via annual training sessions. There will be specific training sessions on anti-corruption and competition law.

    We perform annual country risk assessments on corruption risks specific to our industry and we set a goal to develop country risk assessment reports for all new country we will operate in.

    We will approve and report on all sponsorships, gift and donations.

    By 2030, we also want 100% of suppliers and partners assessed and monitored on ESG criteria.

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions to implement anti-corruption policies, address anti-corruption risks and respond to incidents.

  • We installed a reporting line, an independent global reporting service is run by Convercent, that allows employees, suppliers or partners to report any behavior that is unethical, illegal or goes against the Sibelco values, our Code of Conduct and/or Supplier Code of Conduct.

    The Reportline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and allows to report in various languages, confidentially and where permitted by law, anonymously.
    We value our people’s help in uncovering possible misconduct, but we know that raising an issue takes courage.

    As set out in our Non-Retaliation Policy, we will not tolerate threats or retaliation against anyone who makes a good-faith report or participates in an investigation. No action will be taken against an employee who expresses a concern that was found to be inaccurate if the concern is expressed in good faith.

    Every concern brought to the Compliance Function will give way to an independent investigation and, if allegations are found to be substantiated, relevant remediation action plan, including disciplinary actions.

    Training is available for employees on anti-bribery to clearly understand the topic and how to act in case of confrontation with bribery. Code of Conduct also indicate to immediately report any such case by contacting the Compliance Function.

    Sibelco relies on Refinitive Worldcheck software to support the engagement of ethical business partners. Said software allows for the screening of business partners against all sanctions lists, criminal records and adverse media publications.

    The legal team of Sibelco is dealing with anti-corruption within the company, recently a VP Legal Corporate Governance and Compliance and a Director Compliance were hired to strengthen, on amongst other aspects, our focus and awareness creation on anti-corruption.

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates anti-corruption performance.

  • Anti-corruption and bribery issues are addressed in Compliance Function meetings and any concerns are escalated to the Exco.

    The Ethics Core Team discusses about all compliance investigations outcomes and monitors remediation action plans.

    Sibelco is prioritizing the reinforcement of its third party compliance program in 2023, of which anti-corruption and bribery considerations will continue to be cornerstone.