To our stakeholders,

I am pleased to confirm that for the first time, having become signatories in 2021, PEI Media confirms its support for the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact Initiative, covering the areas of Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-Corruption.

At PEI Media, we are committed to operating in an ethical and responsible manner. We focus our efforts on our workplace, our community, and the environment. As part of the UN Global Compact initiative, we have committed to adopting sustainable, socially responsible policies and adhere to their universal principles on human rights, labour practices, the environment and anti-corruption.

This annual Communication on Progress describes the actions the business has taken over the last year to ensure that we uphold our commitments to the UN Global Compact initiative, and how we embed the core principles within our policies, culture, and company strategy. We are very much looking forward to utilising the framework provided to shape our plans for 2022 and beyond.

This commitment will be shared across our company channels internally as well as through our primary external methods of communication.

Yours sincerely,

Tim McLoughlin
CEO

PEI Media firmly believes that its people are its biggest asset. The wellbeing, health and safety of our global employees are of paramount importance to us. Especially throughout the pandemic, we have encouraged all staff to adopt a healthy lifestyle, relating to both physical and mental wellbeing, and have offered safe working environments – whether that be in our various global offices or in providing necessary equipment and support for remote/home working.

As an international organisation, we ensure that any third parties or suppliers that we engage with uphold an authentic commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Within the multiple global territories in which we operate, PEI Media refuses to engage with any external parties who we find, or who have been found to, disregard any of the standards set out in this declaration. Any potential partners of the business are subject to an evaluation to ensure that there is no evidence of unethical practices.

Our comprehensive internal policies and guidelines cover various basic human rights' themes such as equality, dignity, harassment, and safety. All of these policies are upheld, often in excess of local requirements, in all of our operating locations. We build into our induction and relocation processes a thorough explanation of these policies and expectations for all staff.

As a predominantly office- or desk-based organisation, we see few hazards and risks presented by machinery, toxic chemicals, or hazardous waste materials. What we do acknowledge however, is that mental health and mental wellbeing present equal risk to our organisation and those we engage with. Throughout the pandemic we have strived to enhance our benefits to include a robust private healthcare scheme, an employee assistance programme, virtual wellbeing sessions, enhanced parental leave and pay, and the introduction of a corporate life cover plan. We are also in the process of getting various volunteer staff members trained as Mental Health First Aiders in an attempt to destigmatise discussion around mental health in the workplace and to provide a well informed and inclusive environment for our global teams.

PEI Media is an equal opportunities employer and acts fairly when dealing with matters relating to recruitment, training, and development. We have expanded our Human Resource team since 2019 by 300% with dedicated team members looking at recruitment, talent management and employee relations. A key target for that human resources team (often in conjunction with our ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) and EDI (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion) councils) is to review, implement and adjust policies to ensure that our internal practices are fair and free of bias.

Within the UK, we are also in the process of attaining our Living Wage foundation accreditation. PEI is already compliant with this scheme (relevant as of January 2022), and we are keen to keep pace with changes in minimum and recommended wages in all of our operating locations.

All employees of PEI Media are free and welcome to join a trade union and will not experience any discrimination in the event they choose to do so. Our internal disciplinary procedures allow for a trade union representative to be present and witness the disciplinary proceedings. PEI Media explicitly states in its company handbook that we do not discriminate against any employee or applicant who is part of a trade union.

As our organisation continues to grow, it is a core part of our process that we undertake exemplary due diligence when taking on new suppliers and evaluating existing suppliers. We endeavour to follow regular processes which include mapping the supply chain to assess product or geographical risks, evaluating the working practices of each new supplier, reviewing on a regular basis all aspects of the supply chain, taking steps to improve sub-standard suppliers’ practices.

At present, there are very limited business areas which expose us to risk of forced and compulsory labour, including child labour. However, we remain vigilant as the business continue to evolve and will maintain rigorous processes to ensure that all new business ventures and ethically responsible. It is our ongoing commitment to comply with all applicable labour laws in the respective jurisdictions we operate in.

PEI Media places great emphasis and value on the contribution of each member of staff. It is very important to the organisation to provide equal opportunities, ensure dignity at work and to avoid unlawful discrimination to all individuals who are employed or who may become employed anywhere within our business as well as sub-contractors and associates. We are a business passionate about valuing diversity and seeks to provide all staff with the opportunity for employment, career and personal development based on ability, qualifications, and suitability for the work as well as their potential to be developed into the job.

We believe that people from different backgrounds can bring fresh ideas, thinking and approaches which make the way work is undertaken more effective and efficient. This is both a question of fairness and market success. We believe that the treatment of everyone with dignity and respect makes us a more competitive business and more satisfying place for our employees to work.

PEI's core activities of business-to-business information services and products mean its direct environmental impacts across four offices is relatively limited, to office outputs; business travel; and the printing and distribution of magazines.

More significant are its secondary impacts: principally, the travel by delegates to attend conferences, hosted in hotels around the globe. PEI remains convinced that the convening power of its event portfolio actually reduces the more expansive travel schedules that would be needed were the conferences not to take place. The meetings that are concentrated around the conferences would still happen with many more air miles required.

Additionally, nine events within PEI's Sustainable Finance portfolio play a role in helping their attendees confront environmental issues within their own businesses.

That said, there is work to reduce our direct emissions, and to put our business activities on the most sustainable footing. PEI is therefore planning to acquire the capability to calculate and manage its carbon footprint. This year we will appoint a consultant to partner with us to:

o Help capture emissions data and calculate a baseline carbon footprint
o Help identify and cost a relevant and meaningful offsetting programme
o Identify scope for emission reduction across the business
o Assess viability of PEI joining the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi); and
o Assess viability of PEI becoming a certified climate-conscious event’s organiser

We continue to reduce waste and materials use, and to increase recycling at PEI-hosted conferences. We use recyclable badges and plastic-free cups, plates, and cutlery. From H2 2022 onwards, we are looking to introduce eco signage instead of single-use roller signs.

And in our publishing activity, PEI is an FSC-certified user of responsibly sourced paper.

PEI has stopped using plastic wrapping and replaced it with paper envelopes to eliminate 1 ton of plastic from our publishing operations annually.

In H2 2022 PEI plans to evaluate office relocations in London and New York. During this exercise, we will review office-based consumption/waste with sustainability (re-use/recycle) as a priority.

Anti-Corruption

PEI Media supports the UN Convention Against Corruption and we do not operate in countries

PEI Media supports the UN Convention Against Corruption and we do not operate in countries or with organisations that are corrupt. We conduct regular safeguard checks in our business and can confirm we only work with companies, which also have an anti-corruption policy. In the coming year, as our business expands, we will ensure all new staff are enrolled onto an Anti-Bribery Act training course and those who completed the course in late 2019 receive an updated level of training.

We have a process in place to ensure any corporate hospitality and gifts (over £300 GBP, 500USD & 3750HKD) are declared to our CFO. The CFO is ultimately responsible for anti-corruption within PEI Media.

PEI Media has not been involved in any legal cases, rulings or other events related to corruption and bribery. PEI Media submits audited accounts each year to Companies House in the UK, which are verified by external auditors, and this is used as one of the methods of identifying any spurious payments which could be related to bribery or corrupt behaviour.