At Essentra we recognise that our business reputation, together with the trust and confidence of the people we do business with, is one of our most valuable assets. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics are therefore crucial to our ability to effectively and responsibly build for the future as well as meeting the increasing expectations of all our stakeholders, including employees, customers and investors.
Indeed, for us to sustain shareholder value and build for the future, we must secure our ability to thrive in a sustainable future. This means reducing our impact on the environment, working with customers and suppliers to innovate our products as well as maintaining our ability to attract and retain talent and ensuring their engagement and wellbeing.
In 2021 we established an ESG Committee to be the operational focal point for ESG activities and engage our business divisions as well as Board and management committees to ensure a consistent and integrated approach to the management of ESG risks and opportunities. This group has led the development of an ESG strategy, continued to communicate our objectives and targets internally and externally published our first ESG review. These foundations are even more important as we look towards the fruition of the strategic reviews of the Filters and Packaging divisions and the realisation of a pure play Components business over time.
ESG (including Climate Change) is managed as a Principal Risk in Essentra’s risk management processes, via the Group Risk Committee, with oversight from the Sustainability Committee. More details of this Principal Risk can be found on page 57 of the 2021 Annual Report and Accounts. This Principal Risk considers the growing interest from stakeholders in all areas of ESG including our sustainability agenda and the impact this could have on our reputation.