The international toy supplier, Sambro has achieved ‘excellent’ status across four core categories within its ESG commitment including those towards climate change, supply chain, human capital management, and the company’s environmental footprint.
The global business has been awarded the status as a part of of its annual ESG Audit and ratings report carried out by the independent auditor, the Apex Group. It follows a year of recorded successes across the company’s ESG commitments, including a 20% reduction in scope 1 and 2 Greenhouse Gas emissions compared to 2022 and a 28% reduction compared to its baseline year of 2019.
As part of the audit, the business is measured across key areas of environmental, social and governance performance, with progression measured from beginner to leader, based on an overall scoring system.
This year, Sambro has increased its overall APEX ESG score from 146 out of 300 to 186, taking it from ‘competent’ to ‘excellent’ in just 12 months.
This achievement has been as a result of Sambro’s ambitious ESG targets, which has seen it seen become one of the first toy companies of its size to calculate its overall carbon footprint. On top of notable emissions reductions, Sambro has continued to expand its Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion policy by introducing Mental Health First Aiders, Menopause Awareness Training, and reporting on its gender pay gap, despite falling under the threshold for companies legally required to do so.
Looking ahead to 2024, the supplier is committed to strengthening its ESG policies even further, increasing the amount of product and operational information it collects – via a data-led approach – to better inform its strategies and quickly identify areas of future improvement.
Packaging will continue to be a key area of investment and Sambro has committed to increasing the amount of FSC-sourced cardboard packaging it uses, aiming for 60% of cardboard used to be FSC Certified by the end of 2024.
Sambro will also continue its critical collaborative work with licensors to follow sustainability guidelines and develop bespoke packaging solutions. This includes a switch to biodegradable glitter across all products as well as an innovative new range for Hasbro which is expected to save 12.8 tonnes of plastic a year from going to landfill.
Lisa Longley, Sambro’s ethical and sustainability manager, said: “Over the last three years we have seen a real shift in the management of our sustainability commitments, with ESG now at the forefront of our business.
“We are really proud of our recent ‘excellent’ status following our ESG audit as well as our strong performance across climate change, environmental footprint, and our human focuses, but in order to ensure progression of our sustainable development goals we still have more work to do.
“Looking ahead to the next 12 months, we will continue to progress our key ESG strategy, ensuring we work with our staff, supply chain, licensors and retailers to develop robust and sustainable practices.”
Already, this year has seen Sambro initiate a strategy for integrating ESG further into the business by giving each department a “tailor-made plan” focusing on the aspects of ESG most relevant to them. The team will also be rolling out Environmental Guidelines for its suppliers, ensuring that all of Sambro’s manufacturing facilities are “fully aware of what we expect from them in this field.”
Lisa continued: “I am especially pleased with our Carbon Footprint results for 2023. A 20% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions is a huge achievement, and our overall emissions have only increased by 8% from last year, despite including more categories and data in our report.”
