Building upon the company’s strong commitment to sustainability, Southwire recently launched its 2017 sustainability report, written in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards: Core option. This online report details Southwire’s progress toward its sustainability commitments and features the company’s management approach and achievements in its most significant, or “material,” sustainability topics.
The report covers all areas of sustainability at Southwire, including the company’s most significant impacts, opportunities, sustainability goals and strategies, which align with its five tenets—Growing Green, Living Well, Giving Back, Doing Right and Building Worth.
“At Southwire, we work hard every day to discover, develop and distribute sustainable solutions that exceed the expectations of our stakeholders around the world. In doing so, our goal is simple: We want to go from good to great,” said President and CEO, Rich Stinson. “We continue to build on our nearly seven decades of rich history by looking to the future—a future where needs will be met through high-end systems and solutions, and a future guided by the technologies, forces and trends shaping our industry. This report helps us clearly define the steps we are taking to ensure the sustainability of our business and maximize the positive impact we can have for our stakeholders.”
Southwire released its first GRI report in 2015, detailing the company’s progress on sustainability goals from 2014. This first report demonstrated Southwire’s strong commitment to transparency around the company’s sustainability initiatives. Southwire’s 2017 report features an updated materiality assessment, further guiding Southwire’s focus on the sustainability topics most significant to the business and its stakeholders.
“As we look toward the 2021 goals we’ve set for our company, it’s incredibly important that we focus on the topics that will most significantly contribute to our progress and our improvement,” said Jeff Herrin, SVP of Sustainability, EHS and Quality. “Our updated materiality assessment helps to clarify what is most important to those we interact with daily and those who will be influenced by our decisions, both today and in the future.”
As referenced in the report, 2017 yielded positive growth for Southwire, highlighted by strong business results, the definition of a five-year growth strategy, a deeper focus on the environment, significant efforts toward safety improvements and much more. A major highlight of the 2017 report included the company’s commitment to the UN Global Compact.
“We signed the UN Global Compact in July of 2017, becoming one of more than 12,000 signatories in 170 countries who are working to take actions that advance societal goals,” said Herrin. “To be a company that can sustain itself through many generations, it is important to align with these initiatives so that our communities around the world continue to prosper and thrive.”
Some of Southwire’s other notable accomplishments for 2017, within its tenets of sustainability, include the successful acquisition and integration of DCN Cables; the grand opening of its Thorn Customer Solutions Center; the development of a formalized inclusivity program and record efforts through Giving Back, specifically in the area of disaster relief.
“As I’ve said before, it is our priority that Southwire remains generationally sustainable for 100 years and beyond,” said Stinson. “I am incredibly proud to lead this great organization, made up of now more than 7,500 talented people across the globe that are working together to ensure we remain an industry and community leader for years to come.”
Full access to Southwire’s 2017 sustainability report is available at southwiresustainability.com.
