New Wave Group AB Annual report 2017 EN | Page 34

CSR & SUSTAINABILITY New Wave Group believes in sustainable growth. We are convinced that long-term thinking will create long-term value. Therefore, it is important for us to use business solutions which are not only profitable, but also sustainable from a social and environmental perspective. New Wave Group uses the term CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) for our work with sustainability, with regard to both social and environmental responsibility. For example, this includes our efforts to improve working conditions in our production countries, streamline transportation and logistics and to use eco-friendly materials. We strive to minimize any negative impact that could occur from our business and at the same time maximize the positive effects, both globally and locally. We also want to help our customers make conscious purchasing decisions. Therefore, New Wave Group works actively with integrating sustainability with our core business through three focus areas for CSR and sustainability: Design and product development, Sourcing and production and Transportation and logistics. SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 1 December 2016, the Swedish Government’s legislation on mandatory Sustainability Reporting took effect and implies that all large entities should report on their policies and work with social- and environmental compliance, human rights and anti-corruption. Since 2012 New Wave Group has included a section about environment and ethics in our Annual Report, but this is the first time we report according to the new legislation in a more comprehensive Sustainability Report. The Sustainability Report gives us an opportunity to highlight our accomplishments so far – but also reflect on how we can improve. The Group’s structure with a decentralized organization poses a challenge in measurability and to globally accumulate data regarding sustainability issues. Therefore, 2017 can be seen as a year of education on how the report should be designed and what to include. The ambition is to add more sustainability-related goals as we learn more and develop our work with sustainability. 34 | NWG 2017 HIGHLIGHTS 2017 Our eco-labeled brand Cottover showed a positive growth deve- lopment, which indicates an increasing demand for sustainable garments. We initiated a web-based training tool to raise the knowledge level in CSR and sustainability issues. We also organized several lectures and seminars to empower our customers and distributors on CSR. New Wave Group signed the transition Accord on Fire and Building Saftey in Bangladesh, a new legally binding agreement that takes effect in May 2018 when the current Accord expires. Suppliers in risk countries evaluated by third party against our Code of Conduct continued to increase. For 2017, factories that stand for approximately 92 % of the total purchasing volume through our buying offices have valid audit reports from amfori BSCI or an equal third party monitoring system. At the beginning of 2017, the legislated energy audit was carried out for New Wave Group AB and its subsidiaries in Sweden. The result was reported to the Swedish Energy Agency during the first quarter of 2017. Read more about how New Wave Group works with CSR and sustainability in the separate Sustainability Report on www.nwg.se/en.