MAteriality
Impacts throughout our value chain
A value chain perspective on sustainability helps us identify how we can best manage our impacts and create maximal value.
This approach makes it easier to identify opportunities, minimize or enhance impacts, and understand boundaries. It also helps us understand how our actions and impacts are interrelated.
The following section illustrates our degree of influence along our value chain, identifies key impacts and how we manage them, and provides examples of the value we create.
Product development
High ability to influence, high impact
Close collaboration between Design, Marketing and R&D enables new products to offer best-in-class performance and consumer experiences.
Read more in our Promise Constantly improve product performance and efficiency.
Risks
- Increased consumer carbon footprint.
- Increased material cost.
- Not meeting consumer expectations.
- Not meeting regulatory or market requirements.
How we manage our impacts
- Continuously improve product efficiency.
- Increase our use of recycled materials.
- Eliminate harmful materials.
- Integrate future requirements into product development plans.
Generating value
Products with leading environmental performance deliver consumer value in line with our business strategy, while reducing negative environmental impacts.
Suppliers
Medium ability to influence, medium impact
Electrolux has over 3,000 direct suppliers, including many in emerging markets, that must abide by our sustainability requirements. We focus on safeguarding Electrolux standards, and developing supplier capacity to improve sustainability performance. This requires careful assessment and supplier selection. Read more in our Promise Improve sustainability in the supply chain.
Risks
- Potential connection to social, ethical and human rights violations throughout our supply chain.
- Extreme weather conditions caused by climate change could negatively affect our supply chain.
- Supply interruptions due to unethical business practices in our supply chain.
How we manage our impacts
- Apply a risk-based approach to our suppliers to mitigate environmental, health and safety risks as well as ethical and human rights risks.
- Climate impact assessments of key suppliers.
- Supplier auditing to safeguard standards.
- Provide training and drive improvement initiatives.
Generating value
Rewarding suppliers that comply with our requirements and share our sustainability ambitions stimulates technical improvements and innovation. Promoting universal norms supports human rights and raises environmental, labor and economic standards – particularly in low-cost countries. This also builds trust and reduces business risks.
Electrolux operations
High ability to influence, medium impact
Electrolux has manufacturing operations in 42 factories in 18 countries and approximately 49,000 employees in total. Our main focus areas are to: reduce our environmental footprint, maintain high ethical standards and working conditions, as well as have a positive impact in local communities.
Read more in our Promise Achieve more with less.
Risks
- Disruptions due to emissions and discharges as a result of incidents.
- Disruptions caused by severe weather related to climate change.
- Impact due to social, ethical and human rights violations.
- Corruption due to weak governance.
How we manage our impacts
- Environmental management systems and efficiency programs.
- Ensure the best conditions for health and safety.
- Governance systems and training to enforce sustainability policies.
- Climate impact assessments of operations.
- Support local community programs.
Generating value
We benefit society by providing jobs, knowledge transfer and economic opportunities. Positive employee relationships promote competence development, employee wellbeing and job satisfaction. Value is created for Electrolux by retaining talented employees and avoiding financial costs related to accidents.
Transport
Medium ability to influence, medium impact
Electrolux emits more CO2 transporting its goods than through its total energy use in Group operations. Read more in our Promise Improve sustainability in the supply chain.
Risks
- Emissions from transportation.
- Labor conditions at logistics companies.
How we manage our impacts
- Collaborative solutions to mitigate logistics-related impacts.
- Promoting more efficient modes of transport.
Generating value
We support the trend toward more sustainable transport and encourage our logistics suppliers to further reduce their impacts. This reduces transport-related emissions and our climate impact.
Sales
Low ability to influence, high impact
Electrolux annually sells approximately 60 million products in over 120 countries, primarily through retailers. Energy and performance labeling, and retailer sustainability campaigns allow us to raise consumer efficiency awareness. Read more in our Promise Constantly improve product performance and efficiency.
Risks
- Not effectively informing consumers.
- Failure to meet consumer expectations on product efficiency.
- Limited opportunity to influence decision-making at the point-of-purchase.
- Corruption.
How we manage our impacts
- Continuously improve product performance and efficiency.
- Improve pre and point-of-purchase communication.
- Partnering with our customers to highlight sustainability aspects to consumers.
- Third party endorsement of products, e.g. best-in-test.
- Communicating on themes such as energy efficiency, food storage, reducing food waste and caring for clothes.
- Mandatory training on anti-corruption and bribery.
Generating value
Promoting transparency and our sustainable product offering contributes to retailer sustainability goals, strengthens our brands and builds consumer loyalty. As sales of most resource efficient products demonstrate, an efficient product offering is a profitable strategy.
Consumer use
Low ability to influence, high impact
As the main environmental impacts of our products occur during their use, product efficiency is a top priority. Read more in our Promise Constantly improve product performance and efficiency.
Risks
- Failure to meet consumer expectations on product performance.
- Consumers not using products optimally.
- Product safety.
- Data privacy for users of connected products.
How we manage our impacts
- Continuously improve product performance and efficiency.
- Incorporating intuitive design to help consumers get the most out of their products.
- Product safety governance and procedures.
- Proactive approach to data privacy regulation.
Generating value
Appliances deliver social benefits that many take for granted – such as food conservation, contributing to a healthier home environment, freeing up time from household chores, and facilitating equal opportunities – which are particularly important in emerging markets. Providing efficient products, raising consumer awareness and increasing appliance connectivity can help counter rising global CO2 emissions due to increasing consumption, while reducing costs.
End-of-life
Low ability to influence, medium impact
We promote proper recycling as part of our producer responsibility. In Europe, where the most comprehensive producer responsibility legislation exists, 80% of the materials (by total volume) from collected large appliances must be recovered (70% for small appliances).
Risks
- Expectations on producers to take responsibility beyond legislation.
- Waste of resources due to a lack of recycling.
- Illegal trade of discarded products and recycled materials.
How we manage our impacts
- Establishing circular business models for recycled materials.
- Eliminating harmful materials to enable higher quality recycled materials and decrease environmental impact.
- Promoting proper recycling as part of producer responsibility.
Generating value
Building resource efficient and closed-loop systems help reduce environmental impact and overall resource consumption. Innovative designs that allow material reuse saves money and energy, and increases consumer trust in our brands.
Electrolux
Electrolux is a leading global appliance company that has shaped living for the better for more than 100 years. We reinvent taste, care and wellbeing experiences for millions of people around the world, always striving to be at the forefront of sustainability in society through our solutions and operations. Under our brands, including Electrolux, AEG and Frigidaire, we sell approximately 60 million household products in approximately 120 markets every year. In 2019 Electrolux had sales of SEK 119 billion and employed 49,000 people around the world.
S:t Göransgatan 143
SE-105 45 Stockholm, Sweden