A framework for sustainability
A central pillar of the internal sustainability work is Trelleborg’s Code of Conduct and a number of Group policies and directives. The Code of Conduct applies to all employees without exception. Training in the content of the Code is mandatory for all employees and is to be refreshed at least every three years.
Trelleborg’s sustainability report is integrated into the Group’s Annual Report and complies with the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the associated European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
Role of the Board of Directors and Group Management
These also show employee representatives with regard to Board members, and responsibility for monitoring, measurement and governance of Trelleborg’s impacts, risks and opportunities. Areas of responsibility for the Board of Directors and Group Management.
Trelleborg’s Board of Directors is the highest level for governance of sustainability matters. The Board approves the outcome of the double materiality assessment including focus areas, targets, Group policies and action plans that are linked to identified material impacts, risks and opportunities. The Board’s Audit Committee also receives regular updates regarding the work on the Group’s sustainability reporting in the material focus areas that have been identified.
All focus areas identified in the double materiality assessment, the results of which are approved by both Group Management and the Board, should be addressed with steering documents, either with Group policies or Group directives. The Board of Directors approves all Group policies, including steering documents on business conduct: anticorruption, competition law and professional conduct. Group Management approves the steering documents that resemble Group policies but do not require Board approval, which in Trelleborg are called Group directives. The governing bodies’ areas of responsibility for material sustainability matters are to be clearly reflected in the relevant steering documents. Group Management, including the President, is responsible for implementing and monitoring these guidelines across the organization. Decisions on procedural amendments and updates are taken by Group Management, while Group Legal leads the operational work on compliance. The Board also adopts the Code of Conduct and regularly reviews compliance reports, whistleblower cases and the results of internal audits. The Audit Committee has specific oversight responsibility for business conduct and whistleblower matters, and receives reports from Senior Vice President General Counsel and Vice President Internal Control on investigations and compliance with policies and directives.
The Board of Director’s role as the highest body in Trelleborg for governance of sustainability matters has been strengthened in recent years. From 2021, work on sustainability matters at Board level was expanded so that not only the Audit Committee but the entire Board continuously monitors the Group’s performance by reviewing the development of the most significant indicators. This practice has been clearly facilitated as a result of the expansion of the sustainability content in the Group’s interim reports starting in 2022.
Board of Directors during the year
Eight scheduled Board meetings were held in 2025. Sustainability matters were discussed at all Board meetings; refer to the box below for details. Material sustainability matters and associated impacts, risks and opportunities are also addressed at Audit Committee meetings. The Chief Financial Officer gives presentations at these meetings, as does Vice President Group Excellence and Sustainability, who is responsible for coordinating and preparing the Group for reporting in accordance with the new CSRD/ESRS legislation, as well as Senior Vice President General Counsel, who reports on compliance matters.
The Board receives routine reports both on sustainability matters and selected indicators linked to sustainability in conjunction with the Group’s interim reports. In addition, a customary annual review of the outcome in the sustainability area was carried out during 2026 in connection with the approval of the 2025 Annual Report. Risk reviews, which include sustainability risks, are conducted by the Board once per year. Vice President Group Excellence and Sustainability and Vice President Risk Management and Environment give presentations to the Board on sustainability matters and their impacts, risks and opportunities, including their links to the prevailing business model. Examples of strategic matters associated with sustainability discussed by the Board during the past year (in addition to following up existing targets and activities) included the updating of climate targets, how sustainability should be managed in conjunction with acquisitions, the increasing requirements placed on, and legislation in the area of, sustainability reporting
(CSRD and the Taxonomy) as well as the ongoing transition to renewable energy in the Group.
Group Management during the year
Group Management met four times during the year. Vice President Group Excellence & Sustainability gives presentations on sustainability matters. The outcome of sustainability indicators and ongoing activities is reported and discussed at each meeting, see the box below.
During 2025, this included issues such as the proposal for updated science-based climate targets and continued efforts to achieve the goals for diversity and inclusion. Focus was also given to occupational health and safety and workplace safety matters. Group Management also discussed sustainability topics in the areas of product development and future polymers, energy efficiency measures and the transition to renewable energy sources at production units.
Each quarter in conjunction with the interim reports, the business areas present outcomes for the latest period, as well as commentary on material sustainability metrics.
Composition and diversity
The composition, expertise/competence, experience, independence and diversity of the Board of Directors and Group Management are described above. In addition to the seven members, the Board includes four deputies appointed by the employee organizations.
Sustainability Council
Many of the day-to-day sustainability activities – with particular focus on identifying material sustainability matters and their impacts, risks and opportunities – take place at the Group level via a Sustainability Council, which convened four times in 2025.
The Sustainability Council has internal expertise in all sustainability matters that have so far been deemed material. Representatives from Group staff functions and business areas represented on the Sustainability Council are responsible for pursuing issues linked to their areas of expertise. Group Management, including the President, serves as a steering committee for the Sustainability Council.
When drafting the Group’s sustainability targets, the Sustainability Council prepares the topics that have been deemed material and forwards proposals for the respective topics to Group Management, which subsequently decides on the proposed targets.
Integration of sustainability in Group processes
Operational responsibility for sustainability initiatives, including proposals for relevant targets and actions, is also exercised through a number of existing cross-organizational groups with dedicated areas of responsibility. The cross-organizational groups operate in core areas such as compliance, chemicals and raw materials/circularity, as well as under the framework of the Group’s Excellence activities with continuous improvements. All relevant cross-organizational groups are represented on the Sustainability Council.
These cross-organizational groups are integrated with the other functions of the Group through established risk management and internal control processes. Sustainability has also been integrated into the Group’s established processes for strategic planning, ensuring that sustainability aspects are taken into account in long-term management and decision-making.
The Group’s business areas are themselves responsible for many of the sustainability activities conducted in operations. During the year, they routinely present their respective planning and follow-up in the area to Group Management for the fulfillment of the Group’s sustainability targets.
In line with this delegated responsibility at the business area level for achieving sustainability performance as well as data monitoring, sustainability controllers have been appointed in each business area to manage continual planning and follow-up. Each production site already has an environmental coordinator, energy coordinator and occupational health and safety officers. The sustainability work is further supported by various types of local internal audits in the units, for example, within the framework of the occupational Safety@Work program and, starting in 2025, in the internal control procedures as well.
Skills and expertise in sustainability matters
As a whole, Trelleborg’s Board and Group Management can be considered as possessing the competence required to work with the material impacts, risks and opportunities that were identified in the double materiality assessment. Those responsible for material sustainability areas (for example, climate, circularity, diversity) report directly to the CEO, Senior Vice President General Counsel, and Senior Vice President Communications and Human Resources.
The Board and Group Management hold the relevant expertise in business conduct through experience from international operations and routine compliance and risk management training. The members of the Audit Committee have specific legal and internal control expertise, ensuring effective oversight of business conduct issues. Senior Vice President General Counsel is an expert in competition law, anti-corruption and international business law, and is responsible for keeping the Board and Group Management up to date on new regulations and risks.
The Board and senior executives are offered training in business conduct and compliance to further enhance expertise in these areas. The Compliance Task Force, comprising Group function heads, serves as a forum for information exchange and coordination of compliance initiatives. In 2025, three meetings were held with a focus on training, policies, internal control and data security.
Where needed, Trelleborg engages external experts to deepen its understanding of material sustainability matters and the applicable regulations.
Sustainability Due Diligence
The core of this practice is how the different steps in the process identify and measure the negative impacts that arise or may arise due to Trelleborg’s operations and that are directly linked to its activities, products and services, as well as its business relationships across the value chain.
In 2025, sustainability was further integrated into the established due diligence processes for acquisitions. The aim is to ensure that the most material sustainability aspects, such as climate, and health and safety, are considered in the decision-making process for potential acquisitions.
Due diligence in the area of environment
Due diligence related to environmental matters is an integral part of Trelleborg’s compliance with environmental legislation, and is carried out in part via established procedures in the Chemicals Task Force and as part of the processes for internal control.
Due diligence in the area of human rights
Ensuring respect for human rights in its own operations is a matter of course for Trelleborg, as described in the Group’s Code of Conduct. The risk of internal shortcomings in this area is generally considered to be limited. Relevant human rights that are followed up with clear zero breaches targets internally include freedom of association, no child or forced labor, no human trafficking and no discrimination.
There is zero tolerance for child and forced labor and human trafficking. The 2025 Modern Slavery, Forced Labor, Human Trafficking and Child Labor Statement describes how Trelleborg addresses these risks in the value chain.
As part of the internal due diligence process in human rights, all units must register identified cases of child or forced labor in the Group-wide reporting system. All reported cases must be investigated. No such cases have been reported in recent years.
To monitor human rights in the supply chain, Trelleborg has for many years had an established procedure for self-assessment based on the company’s Code of Conduct, which suppliers corresponding to at least 90 percent of the relevant purchasing spend must fill out.
During the year, a framework for due diligence in the supply chain was established. As part of this work, a number of suppliers have been identified based on risks linked to the country and industry in which they operate. An in-depth analysis has been carried out with the help of an external system. Suppliers classified as high risk have been further analyzed through a self-assessment survey. In 2026, corrective actions will be planned in consultation with the local business responsible for each supplier.
The internal control procedures were also developed in 2025. Self-assessment forms with questions related to human rights and employment conditions were added, and four audits were conducted.
Due diligence in the area of business conduct
Due diligence related to business conduct is a well established procedure with annual checks taking place mainly at the subsidiaries’ annual general meetings.
This procedure is monitored at both the business area level, with the relevant key indicators being reported on a quarterly basis, and at the Group level in conjunction with the annual reporting. Risks and impacts related to business conduct are an integral part of Trelleborg’s well-established Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), internal control and legal review processes.
Risk management and internal control over sustainability reporting
The auditor’s review for 2025 is summarized in an assurance report for sustainability.
Sustainability in internal control
To further strengthen the sustainability reporting and its quality, the same procedures applied to other areas covered by the Internal Control function’s review were introduced during the year. This means that a limited number of audits were carried out at reporting companies to validate the quality of the quarterly self-assessments.
The first step in the initiative that was introduced in 2024 was a self-assessment for all reporting units, with questions linked to the following environmental areas: climate and energy, pollution, water, biodiversity, as well as resource use and circularity including waste.
Work on integrating sustainability in the Internal Control function’s audits of Group entities continued in 2025. The self-assessment on environmental issues was complemented with questions related to social aspects (health and safety, diversity, human rights) and compliance (business conduct training, zero tolerance for non-compliance).
In addition, four on-site audits were carried out. During the visits, representatives from the Sustainability and Internal Control Group functions audited the local reporting and validation of relevant data, as well as procedures and processes for sustainability management at the four plants.
The purpose of the self-assessment and audits is to ensure that all of Trelleborg’s units have processes and procedures in place to guarantee that sustainability data that is reported on a quarterly, semi-annual and annual basis is reliable and relevant. The self-assessment linked to sustainability reporting routines is analogous to the existing internal control procedures and must be filled in at the same frequency as the other self-assessment forms – every quarter.
The self-assessments that were submitted on a quarterly basis in 2025 were audited jointly by the Excellence and Sustainability Group function and the Group’s Internal Control function. The audit identified a number of issues in the reporting procedures for certain units, mainly linked to local processes for collecting and reviewing data, inadequate documentation of procedure descriptions and an unclear division of roles. Dialogs were initiated with these units to define corrective actions and strengthen internal controls for future reporting periods.
The results of the self-assessments will be presented to the Board’s Audit Committee once a more complete self-assessment procedure is in place.
Risk management in sustainability reporting
Over time, it has become apparent that the overall ERM-based risk management initiatives in Trelleborg must be supplemented to fulfill the increasingly specific requirements for sustainability reporting. This was further accentuated when EU legislation for sustainability reporting was introduced starting with the 2025 fiscal year.
To meet its own needs – as well as those of its stakeholders – for a comprehensive sustainability risk analysis, Trelleborg has already been working with various approaches and frameworks:
- A continued Group-wide focus on ERM to analyze and cover classic Group-wide risk, based on respective weighing of outcome and likelihood.
- During the year, the financial risks that emerged in the double materiality assessment were also integrated into the ERM framework.
- As of 2024, the sustainability analysis has been further supplemented by a sustainability risk assessment as part of the annually updated double materiality assessment.
- Starting in 2024, the established ERM framework for climate-related physical risks has been supplemented with climate-related transition risks.
- For Trelleborg’s specific analysis of climate related risks and opportunities under the guidelines in the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework. The climate scenarios used by Trelleborg are that society will succeed in adapting to climate change and keep the increase in global temperatures below 2°C, and that society will fail to adapt, resulting in an increase in temperatures of up to 4°C.
Stakeholder engagement
Two key groups are the company’s own employees and workers in the value chain. These groups are directly affected by Trelleborg’s operations, such as employees at risk of employment injuries and workers in the value chain with unsatisfactory working conditions.
Dialog with customers has further increased, often through questions and surveys relayed by third-party platforms. Interest from investors and shareholders remains high, with extensive sustainability surveys from established platforms such as CDP and EcoVadis. Societal interest focuses on environmental impacts close to Trelleborg’s units, where authorities, organizations, researchers and neighbors are important stakeholders.
Stakeholder engagement
Stakeholders have a strong engagement in Trelleborg’s activities to address social and environmental issues. The dialog is an important tool for understanding impacts and managing risks. One goal for Trelleborg’s sustainability reporting is to provide key stakeholders with an accurate overview of the Group’s sustainability activities.
During the year, the dialog focused mainly on climate, circularity and social sustainability. Direct dialog is handled by the relevant functions, such as investor relations, logistics and communications, as well as locally within the business areas. Supplier dialog has been strengthened through surveys on business conduct, climate and circularity. The results of Trelleborg’s stakeholder engagement are used in strategic planning processes and have helped to strengthen the Group’s focus on circularity and social sustainability, which has been integrated in the business strategy and new targets.
Questions from dialog sessions, which are held both locally and centrally, are addressed in the Group’s Sustainability Council, where they are integrated into the double materiality assessment process. The results are presented to and then adopted by Group Management and the Board of Directors. Read more about the double materiality assessment
Trelleborg and the value chain
The core of Trelleborg’s solutions is expertise in materials technology and in-depth knowledge of customer applications.
Trelleborg’s double materiality assessment encompasses the entire value chain. The detailed descriptions of the results of the assessment broken down by area that are presented in the relevant sections of this report also indicate which parts of the value chain are affected by the identified material impacts.
Sustainability contacts
Contact our sustainability team: sustainability@trelleborg.com.
For product inquiries or related matters, please visit contact us.
Johan Wijk
