The Oerlikon Sustainability Report 2022 is our third report on our material economic, environmental and social impacts and how we manage them.
The report provides an in-depth look at the way we address sustainability and implement our sustainability strategy. It also gives an overview of relevant policies, guidelines and targets established for continued improvement in sustainability performance metrics. Furthermore, the report contains a review of notable achievements in 2022. Oerlikon intends to continue reporting on sustainability on an annual basis.
The report generally covers all of the Oerlikon Group companies worldwide, including wholly owned subsidiaries and majority-owned joint ventures as well as acquired entities. In total, Oerlikon operates 205 sites in 37 countries in 2022.
The employee data covers employees from all legal entities of the Group worldwide (see Annual Report pages 124-125). For the environmental and health & safety metrics, data from operational sites were included in the calculation. Operational sites refer to relevant sites, that is all production sites and offices with more than 50 employees, plus a few small offices (< 50 employees) that have provided data in the year under review. The list of sites/legal entities whose data are consolidated for environment and health & safety can be found on pages 87 to 90 of this report.
To define the contents of this report, we have referred to the GRI Standards 2021, the SASB Standards and to the results of the materiality assessment and the material topics identified in this process. We have also taken into account stakeholder feedback on reporting, best practices in sustainability reporting and the applicable United Nations SDGs.
GRI Standards are the most widely adopted global standards for sustainability reporting. These standards help businesses and governments understand and communicate their impact on a variety of sustainability issues in a common format. We have mapped our material topics and included relevant disclosure topics in the GRI content index, which can be found from pages 76 to 79 of this report. Omission from the material issues addressed in our report does not mean an issue is not managed.
We have opted in this report to also disclos according to SASB’s industry category: Industrial Machinery & Goods. The SASB mapping can be found on page 80. SASB Standards guide the disclosure of financially material sustainability information by companies to their investors. Effective as of August 1, 2022, the Value Reporting Foundation – home to the SASB Standards – consolidated into the IFRS Foundation, which established the first International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). SASB Standards now fall under the oversight of the ISSB.
Sections marked with the United Nations SDGs symbols provide more information on how we implement strategies and practices that contribute toward supporting these SDGs.
The entities acquired in 2021, including INglass and Couerdor, are integrated and consolidated in the 2022 report. Any new relevant sites opened by Oerlikon in 2022 are also included in the report.
We measure energy consumption at all our operational sites, and the data is consolidated in our SAP Business Warehouse. For all environmental metrics, including energy, renewables, emissions, waste and water, the total operational sites consolidated in 2022 are 166.
Our energy consumption includes all types of energy, including purchased electricity, solar power generated by us, purchased heat and cooling, natural gas, fuel oil, propane, diesel, gasoline, hydrogen and kerosene.
To calculate emissions, each of our sites is required to provide the actual CO2 factors for electricity from their respective utility. For fossil fuel, we use average CO2 factors from various governmental sources. Sites are required to cross-check locally with respect to the details provided by their energy suppliers.
The sources for emissions include electricity and steam generated offsite and all fuels used in boilers and other combustion equipment, including purchased electricity, purchased heat and cooling, natural gas, fuel oil, propane, diesel, gasoline and kerosene.
The share of disposed waste is calculated as the total weight of waste directed to disposal as a percentage of the total weight of waste generated by Oerlikon.
For our HR data, we use the SAP SuccessFactors software to manage our people processes, perform analytics and improve visibility and efficiency. Since SuccessFactors is cloud based, the software enables us to have real-time updated data about our employees and their development, and helps us to manage the entire employee life cycle.
Our Total Accident Frequency Rate (TAFR) data for health and safety is collected through a monthly reporting process using SAP Business Warehouse and Cognos TM1. In 2022, health and safety data includes data from 174 operational sites, that is including the 2 small sites that have provided environmental data and 8 additional small offices that have delivered health and safety data.
Our compliance data is collected by the Head of Compliance and Internal Audit teams. The majority of Oerlikon’s compliance cases are reported through its 24/7 whistleblowing hotline. Complainants can report anonymously, although we encourage transparency in order to better handle cases and to reach a substantiated outcome.
All reported cases are investigated to the full extent of the facts that have been provided. Cases lacking in pertinent facts or substantiated evidence are closed. At the end of each calendar year, Group Compliance reviews the cases with the Compliance Review Board (of which the Head of Group Compliance is the Chair), and the cases are also reviewed by the Audit and Finance Committee of the Board of Directors. In the review and assessment of cases, Group Compliance and Internal Audit make recommendations for modifications to internal controls and policies and/or procedures that may have led to the wrongdoing or any undesirable behavior.
This report covers the period between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022.
Our 2030 environmental and diversity targets have been assured by PricewaterhouseCoopers AG. The assurance was performed with a limited level of assurance. It included one physical and two virtual site visits at three of the representative operative sites. The assurance report can be found on pages 91 to 93.
