Care and respect for people and nature
are central to SCA’s way of working
1 Trends and drivers
Global macrotrends, from population growth and higher living standards to resource scarcity and climate change, have a major impact on SCA’s business operations. We have identified a number of macro-economic drivers that we believe are most relevant to our business. By analyzing our operating environment and these drivers, we can leverage opportunities and avoid the risks associated with them.
The macrotrends that we have identified as most relevant to our operations are:
- The world’s growing and ageing population.
- The global poverty reduction and a growing middle class.
- The large proportion of the world population with no access to hygiene and sanitation.
- A world that is changing as a result of, for example, globalization, urbanization, political decisions, a global economy and legislation.
- Changes in customer and consumer behavior due to such factors as sustainable consumption, digitalization and increased brand awareness.
- Climate change.
- Resource scarcity, as more and more people have to share the earth’s resources.
The macrotrends above are described in more detail in chapter Driving forces of the Annual Report.
2 Dialog with the world
Millions of people across the globe have an impact on, and an interest in, our business. We have to act in harmony with the society in which we operate in order to be relevant, and a continuous and responsive dialog with our stakeholders helps us understand the expectations on us as a company and how we can continuously develop and improve. It also helps us to understand the needs of our customers and consumers, build long-term relationships and to formulate and implement our business strategy. Read more in chapter Stakeholder dialog.
3 Our crossroads
Our materiality analysis highlights the issues that are significant to SCA and our stakeholders. It forms the basis of SCA’s strategy and sustainability program. The analysis is based on a survey of 1,100 internal and external stakeholders. Read more in chapter SCA’s materiality analysis.
4 Strategy
People ambitions
We are creating a position as one of the world’s most credible companies by delivering sustainable growth and value for our stakeholders.
We improve hygiene standards worldwide with our hygiene solutions. For the millions of existing users of our products and services, and for the billions of people in emerging markets, we develop innovative solutions that make it easier to live healthy, sustainable lives.
We support women’s empowerment and their freedom to participate fully in society – socially, educationally and professionally – across the world by giving them access to, and education about, hygiene solutions.
Nature ambitions
We deliver sustainable solutions with added value for our customers from a safe, resource-efficient and environmentally adapted value chain including purchasing, production and R&D.
We combat climate change and minimize our impact on nature through a combination of new innovations and technologies, efficiency improvements, consumer initiatives and carbon uptake in our forests.
We are committed to biodiversity in our forests and have agreed to manage and use them responsibly. We strive to maximize the value that our forests bring to our ecosystem, climate, customers and society, through a combination of innovation, efficiency improvements and wise and long-term management.
5 Targets and outcomes
SCA has established Group-wide financial, people and nature targets. Ambitious, clear targets drive and govern the business and make it easier for the surrounding world to understand how sustainability work contributes to our business. In 2015, we developed new targets for health and safety, fiber sourcing and water. Read about the outcome of these targets in chapter Targets and outcome, and about the new targets in chapters Value creation for people – Health and Safety, Value creation for nature – Fiber sourcing and Value creation for nature – Water.