Sustainability

Our journey so far

• Achieved the Toitū carbonreduce certification twice for FY21 and FY22.

• Recognised as finalists in the 2022 Toitū Brighter Future Awards in the Climate Action (biggest reduction) Large Organisation category.

• Completed two EcoVadis audits – awarded and maintained our Bronze EcoVadis medal.

• Sought feedback and ideas from our people through our engagement tool to identify areas for improvement across the business.

• Launched various initiatives across our sites to reduce waste and save energy, including education around recycling and moving to 100% recyclable film for our lab coats – this is eliminating over 15,000 plastic covers from being sent to landfill each year!

Our reduction targets

Our goal is to reduce our carbon emissions by 5% per annum. We are focused on reducing our own carbon footprint rather than purchasing carbon credits to offset our carbon emissions, through a focus on reducing waste, minimising energy consumption by exploring renewable energy sources, and promoting responsible resource use.

Some of the initiatives already implemented include:

• Transitioning from air to sea freight

• Decreasing business travel

• Moving to a hybrid vehicle fleet

• Switching to LED lights

• Upgrading utilities for lower energy solutions including our Air Handling Units, Electrical Switchboards, and Chiller Compressor

• Optimising the schedule of our AHUs

• Installing transducers on our main equipment to better measure energy consumption and identify further opportunities.

We have implemented a comprehensive Environmental Management System (EMS), which includes processes for monitoring, measuring, and continuously improving our environmental performance.

Our journey so far

• Health, Safety & Wellbeing has been recognised as one of the key enablers in our business strategy and we’ve established the Health, Safety & Wellbeing Steering Group to drive this culture across Douglas. We also launched TIAKI (our Safety, Health, Hygiene & Environmental programme) and our THRIVE wellbeing programme to maintain momentum and focus.

• Directed our leadership programmes on “doing good” through partnering with global development companies Three Hands and Big Bloom to deliver social impact projects.

• Celebrated our people who are championing sustainability across Douglas and within the community through the launch of our sustainability category at our annual Douglas Excellence Awards.

• Provided volunteering opportunities for our people to give back, including planting mangroves along the coastline in Sigatoka, Fiji; preparing native plant seedlings to help restore local bush at the Kaipātiki Project EcoHub in Birkdale, Auckland; and sorting and rescuing fresh produce at Fair Food, Avondale, to support them with their mission to feed people, not landfill.

• Delivered a full calendar of events throughout the year to connect our people with our mission to improve lives and raise money for some worthy charities.

• Kept our people updated on our progress through regular communications and promoted ways to minimise their environmental footprint at work and at home.

Our journey so far

• Established our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Steering Group in 2021 with support from passionate champions across Douglas and steered by our Board and Executive Leadership Team.

• Conducted our first Materiality Assessment in late 2022 with Thinkstep.

• Defined our sustainability vision and strategy for the next three years.

• Joined the Sustainable Business Network as an Investor for Impact.

• Delivered strong ESG business and reporting practices. Produced our first ESG Report to create accountability and report annually on how our sustainability journey is progressing.

• Partnered with EAP Services to offer an external Ethics and Compliance Reporting Programme (whistleblowing).

• Launched our Human Rights and Whistleblowing Policies and updated our Ethics statement in our Code of Conduct in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Materiality Assessment

In late 2022, we partnered with Thinkstep to conduct our first Materiality Assessment. This is a useful process that helps to form the foundation of our sustainability strategy by setting priorities based on stakeholder importance and business impact.

Thinkstep conducted targeted interviews with overseas and local suppliers, our Executive Leadership Team and Board, internal stakeholder focus groups, customers, our local community, and the Douglas Trust. This produced a significant amount of feedback which was then collated into the 17 topics that matter most to our stakeholders across the Environmental, Social and Governance spectrum.

It’s important to us that our people have their say in how we drive a more sustainable future, so we also engaged with our employees through an online survey so they could vote on what matters most to them.

The next step was to rank the 17 topics against their impact on our business, which was achieved through a workshop with 25 of our senior leaders from across Douglas. The highest ranked topics from our Materiality Assessment were identified as:

• Health and safety

• Putting the patient at the centre of everything we do

• A business for the long-term

• Building an engaged workforce

These critical areas of importance are reflected in our sustainability and wider business strategies, and we continue to place a large amount of focus and investment in these areas.