Material topics and contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Definition of the key financial and non-financial topics

For the fourth time, Vetropack is reporting on the 2022 fiscal year in the form of an Integrated Annual Report which provides comprehensive information about our company’s financial and non-financial performance.

We structure the reporting and the material topics in accordance with the "six capitals" of integrated reporting (IR/IFRS):

Reappraisal of material topics

As part of its reporting process, Vetropack carries out an annual review of the materiality matrix developed in 2019. We undertook a full-scale reappraisal of the matrix's relevance in 2022. To ensure compliance with current statutory regulations (in the EU and Switzerland) and the provisions of the GRI Standards 2021, the "double materiality" concept was applied. This comprises two assessment perspectives:

1. The "outside-in" perspective: how relevant is a particular topic for Vetropack's long-term business success?
2. The "inside-out" perspective: how strongly do business activities impact the company's context and environment – economy, people and ecology?

Stakeholder relevance, as the third perspective for assessing materiality, was omitted due to changes in the requirements (as in the GRI Standards 2021).

Identifying and assessing impact

Vetropack updated its existing materiality analysis in autumn 2022. This was a multi-stage process: as the first step, a context analysis was used to identify additional, potentially material topics that would require assessment. We then identified the outward and inward impacts of these topics. This provided the basis for concise descriptions that include potential and actual impacts, both positive and negative, along the value chain. We then conducted an online survey to obtain internal stakeholders' assessments, which were consolidated and validated by management in a workshop.

Material topics adjusted and expanded

Customers and suppliers

Finance

Innovation and intellectual property

Production and products

Employees

Environment

Materiality matrix

Contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs)

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN) provide Vetropack with a reference system. This integrates the impact of our own business activities on the environment and society into the context of global sustainable development.

Following the reassessment of our materiality analysis, we reviewed our contribution to the SDGs. We focus here on four out of the seventeen SDGs where we see the greatest leverage for a significant contribution.

Contribution to SDG 9

Vetropack's strategic orientation is based on these core goals: create resilient infrastructure and build sustainable industrialisation. The company's investment programme will bring processes, plant and technologies into line with the latest state-of-the-art. This approach will support sustainable industrialisation. To achieve this, investment projects in the regions will foster and support a network of small companies around the plant. All plants in the Vetropack Group will benefit from the innovations and investments – and so will their partners throughout the value chain, and in the areas surrounding them.

Aspect that Vetropack can influence significantly

• 9.2: "Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, significantly raise industry’s share of employment and gross domestic product, in line with national circumstances, and double its share in least developed countries."

Material topics

Contribution to SDG 13

As an industrial enterprise that operates internationally with a significant requirement for energy and resources, Vetropack has an ecological footprint. The company focuses its ecological commitment on climate protection.

Aspect that Vetropack can influence significantly

• 13.3: "Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning."

Material topics

Contribution to SDG 12

The world's population currently consumes more resources than the ecosystems can provide. Moreover, consumption-based waste constitutes another formidable global problem. Glass has numerous properties that can contribute to more sustainable consumption. Achievable goals here are: less consumption of resources, less wastage of food, and less waste.

Aspect that Vetropack can influence significantly

• 12.2: "By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources."
• 12.5: "By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse."

Material topics

Contribution to SDG 5

Eliminating gender-specific differences is an obligatory requirement for a company that is committed to a comprehensively sustainable business policy. Moreover, gender equality has been proven to have positive effects on economic success, productivity, competitiveness and innovation intensity. Women have traditionally been in the minority in the glass industry, at all hierarchical levels and in all job profiles. Given this situation, Vetropack assesses the potential for improvement in this area as high.

Aspect that Vetropack can influence significantly

• 5.5: "Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life."

Material topic