Hello,
Welcome to the 2023 RETAL Sustainability Report. This year we have, once again, further advanced our work in managing our material sustainability impacts and risks, reached some significant goals, and made good progress with many others ESG topics.
Our most important achievement is, without doubt, already reaching reaching a CDP A– score two years in advance of our 2025 climate goal. I personally see this as a great testament to RETAL’s commitment to sustainability, being a top performer in managing our most material sustainability topic – Climate Change, confirming our leadership in the industry.
I am also satisfied with the significant progress made within sustainable procurement, another of our material topics, almost reaching all our 2025 targets in 2023. We now aim to reach the same level of performance with the management of our social material aspects, as well as preventing any unethical behaviour, both in our operations and sphere of influence.
RETAL has already started this journey and dedicated resources to raising awareness on bribery and corruption, addressing and improving the working conditions for our employees and becoming a more inclusive organisation, but there is more to do. We are on the right track having set the base for our action, and I am confident I will have significant progress to report in 2024. In addition to managing our ESG impacts and risks, our work is also focused on anticipating and adapting to the new legal landscape on sustainability, especially in the EU, with the introduction of Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), EU Taxonomy, and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). We know from experience that it is crucial to start early to ensure compliance on time.
In 2023, two years ahead of the legal requirement, we performed our first double materiality and EU taxonomy analysis, which are disclosed in this report.
Last but not least, a key pillar to all our sustainability work is effective communication with our stakeholders, to understand and be aligned with their expectations and deliver relevant information to them. To support this and complement this annual report, we have implemented internal and external newsletters and increased our social media and press content, also encouraging our stakeholders to engage with us on
sustainability.
I look forward to hearing from you.
