Sustainability

The sustainability journey we are on is already making a difference. We are increasingly delivering great sustainable solutions to customers and will continue to further extend this in the future.

During 2021, the Board launched our sustainability framework ‘helping design a better future’, which aims to ensure we continue our journey to become a more sustainable company.

As a Group with an ever-expanding reach, we understand that our impact and responsibilities extend beyond our immediate surroundings, into the lives of our employees, the environment, and our local and global communities. We take seriously these responsibilities and strive for the highest standards of ethical behaviour to protect and support our employees, our communities and our planet. We believe that every one of us has a shared responsibility to protect and preserve our planet and its environment, for this and future generations.

Despite making good progress in recent years we believe we are still early in our journey to minimise the impact we have on the environment and to drive positive change.

We also wish to create a working environment where our employees feel supported and valued, with their achievements recognised and rewarded. Though our Group operations are varied in many ways, each part of Design Group globally is committed to operating in a responsible and sustainable manner, with a focus on having a positive impact in every interaction we have.

During the year we have developed a framework to help shape the Group’s approach to sustainability, manage the risks and challenges faced as well as seize the expected opportunities. The framework will also enable us to demonstrate, monitor and improve our performance to drive our business forward sustainably.

Our approach to sustainability is underpinned by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 17 goals, along with the 169 targets that underpin them, were reviewed to identify those areas which Design Group can maximise our positive contribution.

Our areas of focus

Last year we launched our sustainability framework ‘helping design a better future’ to help shape the Group’s approach to sustainability and enable us to demonstrate, monitor and improve our ESG performance.

Over the coming year we aim to further refine the sustainability framework along with the priorities, KPIs and goals that we will hold ourselves accountable to. We will also begin to track the progress of each of our key target areas and endeavour to report on these.

People

People are at the heart of our success:

• Employee engagement, talent and skill
• Health, safety and wellbeing
• Diversity, equality and inclusion
• Giving back to our communities

Product

Sustainable by design:

• Responsible sourcing
• Sustainable product and packaging
• Innovative designs and solutions

Planet

Innovating to lower our negative impact:

• Reducing our environmental
footprint
• Design with the environment
in mind

Progress To Date

Communication

In the year Design Group UK have launched a new sustainability website which articulates their response to key sustainability matters using case studies and measuring key KPI’s against internally set targets.

Achievement

Design Group UK have been awarded Tesco Supplier Partner Award 2021 for Sustainability. This shows our continuing alignment and contribution to the sustainability objectives of one of the UK’s leading retailers.

Collaboration

The Design Group sustainability forum has relaunched this year and has met (virtually) three times over the year. The Group-wide forum will enable Design Group to share best practice, define milestones and targets for achieving set goals and formulate a commercially led plan for ESG

Link to strategy

Design Group’s sustainability framework, ‘helping design a better future’, will work alongside our strategy. Adopting a holistic business-wide approach to sustainability is a significant driver of commercial advantage and links into our existing strategic pillars: working with the winners, design & innovation and efficiency & scale.

Working with the winners

We pride ourselves on working with the winning retailers of now and the future. We aim to promote our sustainability principles to all our customers and there are many who are already calling for sustainable solutions as climate change and sustainability is a more pertinent matter than ever. To uphold the highest standards attainable as a Group, it is our aim to foster the relationships we have with all of our stakeholders to continue building a considerate and sustainable company. This principle also extends to our suppliers, where we endeavour to source the most responsible materials that we can.

Design & innovation

In order to be our customers’ partner of choice, our design teams are focused on providing fresh, new and on-trend ideas for our product ranges. This innovation is critical in designing and producing sustainable products and packaging. Increasing our sustainable product offering and continuing to develop and create new ranges are key in our efforts to promote sustainability. The packaging around our product is just as vital to focus on. We endeavour to reduce the amount of plastic, particularly non-recyclable plastic packaging, to reduce the waste contributing to landfills, as well as the pollution of our ecosystems and marine life.

Efficiency & scale

Capital investment and people investment help to drive efficiencies to strengthen our performance. This principle extends to sustainability whereby product design right through to operations and logistics are continually being improved, to reduce the impact we are having on the environment through reduced carbon emissions, as well as the amount of waste which is sent to landfill. Adapting our habits will drive positive change in relation to global warming, the pollution of our ecosystems as well as biodiversity.