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.