Governance of sustainability

Blue Label Group has built on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) and sustainability reporting and oversight framework developed in 2023 that will assist the Board in exercising oversight of sustainability-related impacts, risks and opportunities and the process for integrating sustainability issues into the strategy development, overall governance as well as reporting processes of Blue Label.

A number of continuing initiatives have been undertaken in recent years, including:

  • a review of sustainability reporting impacts, risks and opportunities, with a view to incorporating these into Blue Label's risk management systems;
  • a gap analysis against the JSE Sustainability Disclosure Guidance issued in June 2022 that has informed some of the enhanced content of the integrated report and future planned disclosure improvements; and
  • continuation and refinement of ESG metrics and targets included in our long-term incentive plan.

A proposed structure of Board Committees responsible for oversight of sustainability matters has been presented below:

Audit, Risk
and Compliance
Committee
Remuneration
and Nomination
Committee
Social Ethics and
Transformation
Committee
  Executive Committee
Human Capital Risk and
Compliance
Company
Secretary Office
Environmental
Climate change  
Water security  
Pollution and waste  
Biodiversity and land use  
Supply chain and materials  
Social
Labour standards  
Human rights and community development  
Health and safety  
Customer responsibility  
Supply chain (Social)  
Governance
Board composition
Ethical behaviour  
Remuneration
Compliance and risk management
Tax transparency
Sustainability reporting
Reporting standards  
Assurance  
Materiality  

Ongoing initiatives to integrate and embed sustainability in our governance, strategy, reporting, business and management processes include:

  • enhancing the work plans and terms of reference for Board subcommittees to create focus and integration on sustainability-related issues;
  • formalisation of sustainability-related issues in the risk management system, strategy and policy development as well as internal and external reporting;
  • continued alignment of external reporting with the JSE Sustainability Disclosure Guidance as well as future adoption of global reporting standards and frameworks; and
  • consideration of training and specialist input on material sustainability matters.

As part of integrating sustainability into the Board's mandate and structures, we are reviewing the subcommittees' terms of reference to align with sustainability-related best practices.
Some of the proposed key updates for each Committee include:

Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee

 
  • Formalising the Committee's role in overseeing the application of integrated and sustainability-related reporting standards and regulations.
  • Ensuring that the Group has implemented an effective policy and plan for risk management of sustainability risks and opportunities that will enhance the Group's ability to achieve its strategic long-term objectives.

Investment Committee

 
  • To be formally mandated to incorporate sustainability considerations into the investment decision-making process. This will involve evaluating governance practices, sustainability-related risks and opportunities and related strategies, policies and the performance of potential investments.

Remuneration and Nomination Committee

 
  • To include achieving strategic sustainability objectives and the related performance metrics into agreed targets and timelines in short and long-term incentive plans.
  • To ensure the skills and competence of the Group at Board and management levels are appropriate to oversee strategy development that anticipates and addresses key sustainability-related risks, opportunities and objectives, including ongoing training and support of Board members and management.

Social and Ethics Committee

 
  • Oversee the development of the appropriate strategy and policies in response to material sustainability-related risks and opportunities, including identifying metrics and setting plans and targets over identified time horizons to monitor and manage performance.

Executive Committee

 
  • Ensure that sustainability risks and opportunities are considered in the implementation of strategy development and policies of the Group.
  • Oversee the appropriate setting and planning of performance measures and targets to execute and monitor the effective implementation of strategies and policies.