CSR AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Background

Corporate Social Responsibility is about taking responsibility as a company for how we affect society environmentally, socially, and financially. Taking social responsibility is not only positive for the outside world but can also contribute to increased profitability for the company by optimizing the use and reducing the unnecessary consumption of the resources the company has at its disposal.
By environment, it meant the surroundings in which the organization operates, including air, water, land, natural resources, flora, fauna, people and the interaction between these (according to ISO 14001). The business must be characterized by preventive and recurring environmental work and be seen as a constantly ongoing improvement process. The business must be a forerunner in environmental work, which must be conducted in a systematic and structured manner.

Purpose

The purpose of the company’s CSR and environmental policy is to make employees within the company and stakeholders aware of how the company views and works with social responsibility and environmental issues. We are a small part of the whole, but everyone can and should contribute. The policy describes how the company operates for the environment and society, as well as who is responsible for what and which goals and principles should form the basis of the company’s CSR/environmental work. Everyone within the company has a responsibility to follow laws, regulations, and internal policies. If anything in this policy should conflict with the law, then the prevailing law in the respective country applies before the principles described in the policy.

Responsibility

The company’s management has the ultimate responsibility for the company’s environmental work. Company management must:
a) Ensure that the environmental management system meets the requirements of ISO 14001.
b) Evaluate how the environmental management system works, including the environmental performance as part of the management review.
Company management must determine and provide the resources needed to establish, implement, maintain, and continuously improve its environmental management system.
The CEO is responsible for ensuring that all employees are informed about what the policy entails and give the staff the opportunity to comply with it. The CEO must also aim to make the employees feel responsible and work for preventive environmental work. Employees must be encouraged to contribute with creative solutions in the environmental area.

Principles and binding requirements

As the company is only a distributor of products, there are limitations regarding what demands the company can make towards customers and product manufacturers. Customers’ wishes regarding products and transport choices will therefore always take precedence over more environmentally friendly alternatives. The company cannot consider environmental aspects without also considering costs and/or delivery times. Heavy shipments must be sent by boat, urgent and small deliveries must be sent by air. Otherwise, environmental considerations must be considered when choosing transport. Otherwise, the following principles shall apply to the company:

• All employees have a responsibility for how we treat our fellow human beings and work for a good environment. The business must be imbued with equality and equal treatment.

• The business must have a close interaction with customers and other stakeholders in environmental matters and thus work based on environmental considerations at all levels. Where customers, for example, require material declarations or IMDS, the company must ensure that these are supported.

• As far as possible, it must be sought that product manufacturers are ISO 14001 certified and possession of such certificates must be followed up regularly and documented in the company’s supplier register. If ISO 14001 certification is missing and the product manufacturer is judged to be business-critical for the company, the company must continuously exert pressure on the product manufacturer to certify itself, alternatively the environmental work must be followed up in another way.

• Laws, regulations, and other requirements applicable to the business must be followed. This means, among other things, ensuring that components meet requirements for WEEE/RoHS and REACH (SVHC) and conflict minerals.

• The company must, on its own account, do everything possible to be environmentally friendly in our processes. Workplaces and premises must be environmentally friendly and economize on energy and resources, both in terms of the internal and external environment. The company must have a modern and energy-efficient technology park, and all renewal of technical equipment must lead to a constant upgrade towards more environmentally friendly technology.

Renewable electricity must be used for internal consumption, packaging of products must be done with reuse of received packaging materials, recycling must take place where possible. Inferior technology must be continuously replaced with better, more environmentally friendly technology and the cycle principle must be followed. This is based on the principle of the waste hierarchy, which in turn is based on the EU’s framework directive for waste.

Travel and transport must, as far as possible, be carried out with environmentally friendly alternatives to minimize the impact on the climate. Digital meetings can replace physical meetings when this is possible without the quality suffering.

We must not waste the company’s financial resources. This does not mean that we should skimp on necessary investments, but that resources should be used wisely. For example, a more expensive investment can lead to greater cost savings and thus be more profitable in the long run than a cheaper one.

• Internal environmental work must be carried out that leads to continuous improvements and opportunities and risks must be considered from an environmental perspective.

Working conditions

We are keen to make use of the resources available within the company in the form of knowledge and skills and help our employees develop towards their full potential. It goes without saying that the company’s own employees have good working conditions. But it is also important that the suppliers we use provide satisfactory working conditions for their employees. We therefore do not work with companies that, for example, use child labour, that do not stand up for equality and equal treatment, and companies that allow discrimination and harassment. The company must also always evaluate the company’s reputation and work with environmental issues when choosing new collaboration partners and suppliers.

Environmental goals

The company has established the following environmental goals:

• Electricity that the company uses must be 100% renewable.
• 90% of the company’s product manufacturers must hold ISO 1400 certifications.

The goal is that as many as possible of the company’s suppliers have active environmental work.

• 100% recyclable materials must be recycled.
• 100% of components must meet requirements regarding WEEE/RoHS and REACH (SVHC) and conflict minerals where there are no exceptions.

Goals must be set and reviewed annually. Measurement and reporting must be done as part of management’s review and must form the basis for the improvement work.
Ongoing environmental work and community involvement
The environmental work must be reported and documented well so that it can be followed up and clearly evaluated by comparison with previous environmental investigations.
Environmental work must be part of daily work and the environment must be taken into account in every decision so that one works for sustainable development in society.
Within the company, we are keen to support local associations and businesses. We strive to work with local subcontractors as far as possible and we work with support for non-profit associations.

 

Competence

Employees who work with the environmental management system must have relevant knowledge based on tasks and responsibilities related to the company’s environmental management work.
The company must regularly evaluate how competences in the environmental area are to be maintained and developed.

Implementation and follow-up

The company’s environmental work must be evaluated at least annually as part of management’s review. The company must, in connection with this, evaluate whether:

• measures taken regarding risks, opportunities and requirements have had the intended effect; and
• principles and binding requirements to be applied regarding the company’s social and environmental work.