At the Pebble Group we are committed to acting responsibly by effectively managing environmental, social and governance (ESG) throughout our business. Across the Group we strive to continually improve our practices in relation to sustainability and ESG. We aim to minimise our environmental impact, engage and support our local communities, provide an exciting, inclusive and diverse place to work and effectively manage our corporate governance obligations.
Four ESG cornerstones
Our cornerstones represent the ESG categories that are most relevant to our Group. As our strategy has evolved so has our focus. In 2023, we updated our ESG strategy and refined our ESG cornerstones to reflect the results of our refreshed materiality assessment and also feedback from direct engagement with our stakeholders on our ESG strategy and reporting.
Advancing sustainability
Our aim is to make a positive long-term contribution to reducing the environmental impact of our operations across all aspects of our business, which includes offering innovative products and solutions that support the circular economy.
Empowering our people
Our aim is to create a safe and inclusive culture where our people can thrive and grow, celebrating individuality and diversity.
Community engagement
Our aim is to create a lasting positive social impact in our local community while building a strong distributor network that promotes growth, innovation and collaboration in the industry.
Responsible leadership
Our aim is to lead responsibly through the use of good governance, not just as a set of guidelines but as a way of establishing our creditability and accountability. By embedding clear, policies processes and safeguards we aim to protect the interests of our stakeholders and mitigate or reduce the risks that the Group faces.
To help identify the ESG related topics that are most important to our stakeholders and our business we conducted our first materiality assessment in 2021. The assessment was internal, drawing from the experience and insight of our teams at different levels in the business and incorporating feedback from past and current dialogue with our stakeholders.
74 ESG related issues were identified from an internal brainstorming exercise that were deemed to have the potential to impact our business or were identified as important to our stakeholders. These issues were then grouped into 13 material topics and team members were asked to rate each in terms of importance and impact. The results from this exercise allowed us to develop our first materiality matrix that was used to support the development of our ESG strategy.
In 2023 we refreshed our materiality assessment and extended it to directly seek the views and inputs from all stakeholder groups, not just those of our teams. Four additional material topics were added to the assessment taking the total to 17. The categories were scored in the same way in terms of importance and impact and the results were used to help strength and update the previous assessment.
The CEO is ultimately responsible for ESG, and the Group Board approves ESG strategy, oversees and monitors its implementation and progress. ESG is a key part of the Board’s annual strategy setting session and the Board then receives a full ESG update at its half year strategy review.
The Operating Board of both Brand Addition and Facilisgroup, are responsible for the implementation of the Group ESG strategy. Each business has flexibility to develop its own ESG focus, policies and initiatives, defining their own objectives and managing their own climate related risks. GHG emissions targets are set in consultation with each business based upon what is appropriate and relevant. The Senior ESG Officer holds meetings with each business every two months as a minimum to discuss their results and progress ensuring alignment with the Group strategy and agreed objectives.
For more information about how corporate governance is managed please click here
ESG is fundamental to our business, integrated into our Group strategy, business activities and the products and services we provide, with the aim of delivering long-term value for our stakeholders.
Our future plans and actions are based upon the results gathered from our materiality assessment and further engagement with our stakeholders to ensure that our actions are aligned with their needs and the Group’s long-term growth strategy.
Our actions have been updated to reflect the evolution of our ESG strategy and feedback from our latest materiality assessment, each action is grouped under the relevant ESG cornerstone. Progress against our actions will be reported in our ESG report and our annual report which can be found in the reporting section of our website.
Advancing sustainability
Key actions
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100% renewable electricity across all our direct operations by 2025 and prioritising the reduction of Scope 3 emissions through supplier engagement activities and utilising carbon neutral transportation.
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Continued development of bespoke customer focused products and stock ranges made from sustainable materials, aligned with customer’s brand values that can be distributed globally.
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Strive to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in our product packaging and transit packaging and prioritise the use of recycled and recyclable materials.
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Aim to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill from our warehouses and distribution centres.
Empowering our people
Key actions
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Aim to achieve the Race Equality Code Quality Mark and strive to create an inclusive culture where everyone feels valued, respected and treated fairly.
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Aim to achieve and then maintain an employee engagement score of 75*.
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Strive for zero accidents in the workplace.
Community engagement
Key actions
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Aim to volunteer over 1,000 hours annually to support local community projects and encourage >50% of our employees to take part in community volunteering activities to learn new skills and support local projects.
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Grow the Facilisgroup distributor community through organised events, education, collaboration and training.
Responsible leadership
Key actions
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Development and continual improvement of key Group level policies to outline our expectations and ensure alignment across our Group and supply chain.
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Improve the supplier assessment programme to incorporate ESG related assessment criteria into the supplier selection and the re-approval process to raise the standards of our suppliers.
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Evaluate our suppliers to verify that they are acting responsibly, and they are aligned with our ethical and environmental standards.
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Achieve ISO27001 certification at Brand Addition and SOC2 certification at Facilisgroup
*The target has been revised from 85 to 75 to account for changes made to the methodology of calculating the employee engagement score. The new methodology resulted in lower historic scores when applied to previous years, which required an equivalent adjustment to future targets.
Our policies and standards provide practical guidance and establish a shared understanding of the fundamentals of what we expect from our team members, suppliers and partners.
Each Group business is responsible to ensure that they are compliant with all relevant Group policies. Our businesses can choose to incorporate the Group policies into their own working documents or adapt them to their needs, providing that they are consistent with the overarching Group policy.
Our policies can be accessed below:
- Anti-bribery and corruption policy
- Anti-slavery and human trafficking policy
- Diversity equity and inclusion policy
- Whistleblowing policy
- ESG policy
- Anti-facilitation of tax evasion policy
- Labour standards and human rights policy
- Health, safety and well-being policy
- Environmental and climate change policy
Board Appointment Process
The Group Board has an overall policy to take all steps to gain the confidence and trust of all stakeholders and to ensure that Board effectiveness improves as the Board grows. Upon the recommendation of the Nomination Committee, the Directors have approved the following Board Appointment Process to facilitate the Board’s corporate governance obligation to ensure that there is a robust, formal and documented process for the appointment of new Board directors that is both rigorous and transparent.
Succession Planning
The Group Board has an objective to build resilience in the Company’s businesses through succession planning and to develop a talent pipeline. Upon the recommendation of the Nomination Committee, the Directors have approved the following Succession Planning Process to facilitate the Board’s corporate governance obligation to use succession planning as a vital task to inform Board and senior level recruitment.
We have specific reports that we have complied to provide a detailed information of our priorities and the progress against our commitments and targets.