Corporate Social Responsibility

AS A SOLUTIONS PROVIDER

Saint-Gobain is the world leader in the habitat and construction markets. We develop and deliver products that improve the performance of buildings and enhance the living and working environment. They are designed to meet the needs of today’s society, without impacting negatively on tomorrow’s world. Almost a third of our sales are for products that directly benefit the environment; primarily through improved energy efficiency.

AS A RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS

The focus of operation for our manufacturing and distribution businesses is to respect people’s rights and opportunities, while also protecting the planet. By minimising the depletion of natural resources, improving recycling and the recovery of materials and ensuring the health and welfare of our employees we are able to positively influence the acceptance of sustainable best practice in these areas. Because of our size and reach, this is true not just in our own businesses. Through education, training, advocacy and eco-innovation we are able to move the sustainability agenda forward with our own suppliers and customers.

AS A STAKEHOLDER

An organisation of our size and influence has a deep responsibility to set good examples; globally and locally. In the UK & Ireland we are actively involved in government, business and local community initiatives. When we engage with others we do so openly, and collaboratively, and use the perspective we gain from the breadth of knowledge and skills in in our business to develop solutions to the challenges we face.

COP 21 - OFFICIAL SPONSOR

Saint-Gobain was an official sponsor of the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties [COP 21] to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Paris in 2015. COP21, also known as the 2015 Paris Climate conference, acheived global consensus of the need to limit global warming below 2°C.

REPORTING OUR PROGRESS ON CSR

In the UK & Ireland we have been producing formal Reviews of our performance in Sustainable Development since 2010 and we’re committed to continuing with our formal annual review.

Each Review is published retrospectively and focuses on our Sustainable Development Strategy, Governance, priorities and our performance. So our Reviews will demonstrate areas of success and action from individual Saint-Gobain businesses in meeting our sustainable development ambitions. These Reviews also provides us with an opportunity to reflect on where we have made less progress than we hoped, why this might be and what lessons and actions we take from this experience.

EXTERNAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY PANEL

In an important move for the business in early 2013, we invited a small number of external stakeholders to form an Advisory Panel. The purpose of the Panel is to challenge our progress and areas of action and focus, as well as give advice on our Review; thereby improving the relevance and transparency of reporting in the future.