About this report
The Trelleborg Group’s sustainability report is published annually and covers
aspects related to the environment, health, safety and social issues. The aim is that the report shall give an accurate overview of the Group’s status and activities in the above areas, as well as their businessrelated consequences. The intended target groups are shareholders, employees, customer and suppliers, authorities, NGOs and local stakeholders. The report follows the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) Guidelines for sustainability reporting, version G3.
Trelleborg’s Sustainability Report is published annually in conjunction with the annual report. From 2006, the sustainability report is published only on the Internet (
www.trelleborg.com/sustainability). Prior years’ environmental and sustainability reports are also available from this website. The report for the preceding year was published in March 2006.
Unless stated otherwise, the data presented refer to calendar year 2006. The figures for the preceding year (2005) are shown in parentheses.
The report covers all of Trelleborg’s production facilities, in total 127* (109) sites. A complete list of sites included is provided in the the attached (page 31) “Sites included.” Plants that were divested or where operations ceased during 2006 are not included in the report. This applies to the plants in Collingwood (Canada) and tire production in Trelleborg (Sweden).
The information and key figures included in this report have been selected based on GRI’s Core Indicators and with guidance from GRI’s principles on definition of report content. The focus of the report has been directed toward the indicators that represent the significant environmental and sustainability aspects of Trelleborg’s operations and that are relevant with respect to our activities and geographical presence.
The significant environmental and sustainability aspects were identified and prioritized based on the potential impact on the environment, people and society, risk and strategic importance. This work was performed under the direction of GRI’s principles, ISO 14001, laws and other requirements, internal and external environmental expertise and in dialogue with the authorities and other stakeholders.
It is our aim to continue to develop the report, particularly in the area of social responsibility, in line with Global Reporting Initiative’s guidelines, our extended Code of Conduct (to be implemented in 2007) and the UN Global Compact. The design of the report has taken into consideration the opinions presented by the stakeholders who monitor the progress of Trelleborg’s sustainability activities. We view these opinions as valuable contributions to the continuous development of this report.
The report encompasses operations within the Trelleborg Group that are significant from a sustainability perspective. This also includes joint-venture companies. Operations that are outside the control of the company, such as the suppliers of goods and services (for example, transportation and raw materials), are not included. The report does not encompass distribution facilities, warehouses, offices or other operations that have limited or no direct impact on the environment. Our ambition is that future reports will include accounts of social performance from these units.
Each plant reports information in accordance with the Group standard for sustainability reporting. The manager of each facility is responsible for the correctness and quality assurance of the data provided. In addition, further quality controls are performed by the Group’s Environmental staff function before the information is finally complied. Data is compared with figures from prior years and data from similar facilities and verified through random sampling against other available information.
A selection of key figures critical to the operations contained in the sustainability report is externally verified. No restatements of prior reporting principles or information published earlier were made in this year’s report.
Key figures in this report have been defined based on GRI’s indicator protocols and are described in the Group’s sustainability reporting manual, which contains the guidelines for reporting by the local units. In the case of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions resulting from the burning of fossil fuels, conversion factors based on the energy content and quality of the fuel used are employed. Figures for emissions of VOCs (solvents) are based on measurements at the plants where they occur, but in most cases, VOC emission data is based on mass-balance calculations. The most important key figures are reported in absolute figures and relative to sales to provide a view of trends in these key figures in relation to the expansion of the operations.
The basis for following up the sustainability work is self assessment in relation to Global Reporting Initiative guidelines, version G3 (see
www.globalreporting.org). The thirdparty audit pertains to selected indicators and is a step in the process to ensure continuous improvements in reporting. The audit was performed by Öhrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers, who also conducted an application level verification in relation to GRI criteria presented below, which confirms the final assessment that places Trelleborg on level C.
*All of the units acquired during the year are included in the report except for the four plants added in conjunction with the acquisition of Reeves Brothers Inc on October 31, 2006.