Commitment to sustainability
At SEA we believe that running a sustainable business is key to our future success. We are committed to continuously reduce our carbon footprint to abide by the Paris Agreement to do our part to limit a world temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
We are proud to have joined the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the world’s largest sustainability initiative. In doing so we have committed to do business responsibly and to align our strategies and operations with the 10 principles on human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. SEA is also acting on the 17 UN Sustainability Development Goals (UNSDG).
SEA has made an extensive inventory of our emissions, and we record our Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions according to the Green House Gas Protocol (GHG). Our company emissions data is entered into our Sustrax database on a monthly basis allowing us the agility to adjust our sustainability strategy to ensure we stay on target to meet our sustainability goals. Our emissions data is audited annually by an expert third-party team from Carbon Footprint Ltd.
In SEA we believe that our sustainability data must have credibility, to this end the objectives we set are science based and we have them peer reviewed by the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi). Using 2023 as our baseline SEA commits to follow SBTi guidance that means we must reduce our company emissions by 42% by 2030 and achieve net-zero by 2050 at the latest.
SEA also believes in full disclosure of our sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts. We publish an annual sustainability report that can be found on our website. We also believe that a wider disclosure of sustainability and ESG data is good for society, and we have joined the CDP and committed to full data disclosure and to agree to have our data published on the CDP website.
Environmental, Social, and Governance
The three pillars of ESG provide SEA with a framework to help our stakeholders understand how we manage our risks and opportunities related to environmental, social, and governance criteria. We have carried out an ESG risk assessment that also forms a part of our CDP disclosure and is publicly available.
At SEA, the ESG framework is based on a materiality matrix based on the standard GRI 3 (2021) where we mapped the 17 UNSDG based on their impacts to a) society and b) to SEA.
Environmental
In this first pillar, SEA reports our environmental impacts and related risk management practices in the CDP. Reporting of our greenhouse gas emissions follows the GHG protocol and GRI framework. As mentioned above, our greenhouse gas emissions targets are in line with a science-based approach. Using these standard methods will enable SEA to bench-mark progress with our clients and other manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SME).
Environmental topics include:
- Greenhouse gas emissions
- Energy management
- Waste and spill management
- Biodiversity
Social
The second pillar relates to SEA’s relationships with our stakeholders especially our staff and their wellbeing. The core of the social pillar is health and safety (HS). Our SEA Quality Manual provides clarity how Q and HSE are managed in our company and our HSE Policy defines how everyone in our company shall focus on their own and their co-workers HS and wellbeing. To this end, with staff input SEA developed our Life-Saving Rules which are made up of the ways that people are seriously injured in the manufacturing industry and historically in SEA.
SEA takes staff wellbeing seriously, each year we hold numerous events for our staff and their families such as our annual family day and BBQ, bowling, and sports events. SEA is also a proud sponsor of our local ice hockey team the Chomutov Pirates and local basketball team BK Levharti Chomutov.
Our social discloses include metrics on topics such as:
- Health and safety
- Human rights
- Staff wellbeing
- Gender equality and equal opportunities
- Support of local community
Governance
In the third pillar we focus on how SEA is led and managed. In governance, we disclose how our stakeholders rights are viewed and respected, and what types of internal controls exist to promote transparency and accountability on the part of our leadership team. SEA has adopted a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) management system that provides the foundation for our business and incorporates the ten principals of the UNGC.
Key topics include:
- Responsible financial management
- Contractor and supplier management
- Anti-corruption and bribery
- Data privacy and security
- Emergency management
SEA ESG initiatives
Together, Today, Tomorrow, we can build a better world
Scope 1 emissions
Light Vehicles – SEA has already begun a program to replace diesel and petrol company vehicles with fully electric vehicles. SEA has begun installing electric car charging stations in our facility.
Heavy Good Vehicles – SEA regularly modernises our truck fleet to take advantage of advances in a) fuel efficiency b) aerodynamics c) improved ergonomics and driver comfort.
Green Fuel – Long-haul truck fleets still use diesel fuel diesel. We have explored alternative energy sources, and we plan to test our trucks using a biofuel called hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO). After discussion with the manufacturer of our trucks we plan to test a 50:50 blend of HVO and diesel. A 50:50 HVO fuel blend could cut the Scope 1 CO2 emissions by 50% for each truck.
Scope 2 emissions
Electricity – We are exploring the opportunities to purchase all of our electricity supply from renewable energy sources and our goal is to source at least 20% renewable energy per year until we achieve 100% green electricity in five years.
Scope 3 emissions
Steel – SEA has mapped all the steel mills where our wholesalers buy our steel. Our supply chain has worked with our suppliers to find out verifiable emissions coefficients for each steel mill and in many cases for the individual type of steel we purchase. This has enabled SEA to produce a database allowing us to calculate the carbon footprint of each product we manufacture. The database also allows SEA to preferentially select steel from the lowest emissions suppliers who use a circular economy and use recycled steel thus cutting our product emissions and our clients emissions.
