Introduction
| Grindrod’s sustainability review is presented annually as
part of the annual report and provides an overview of the
company’s policies, practices and performance relating to
its environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities
for the financial year ended 31 December 2008. It covers
all group operations. Certain aspects relevant to a sustainability review, such as the corporate profile and strategy are not duplicated in this section as these are covered elsewhere in the annual report. This year for the first time we are reporting on aspects of sustainability performance per division. This aligns reporting to how the group has reported financial and other performance and will allow for more meaningful comparisons and performance trending going forward. The report has drawn on guidelines and criteria developed by the various agencies which monitor corporate sustainability and in particular the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) G3 guidelines, but has also been adapted to address issues specific to the businesses and industry. View GRI content index. In setting the boundaries for the scope of environmental data and information to be included, the group consulted the international Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, which provides recommendations in this regard. Data from joint ventures has been provided as a percentage of the equity share. Where this changed during the year, the percentage was adjusted accordingly, month on month. However, all safety incidents have been reported, regardless of equity share. Where subsidiaries have their own joint ventures, information and data was only provided where Grindrod has operational control. In terms of the representativeness of the social and environmental data reported, data and information was received from 20 subsidiary companies, comprising more than 95% of revenue of the total Grindrod group. The comparability of sustainability data year on year has been affected by changes to the group such as acquisitions and divestitures and changes in joint venture equity shares. Over the last three years, there has been a steady incremental improvement in the completeness of the data sets received from each subsidiary, and this year was no exception. Furthermore, during the year the boundaries for accountability of fuel use was carefully reviewed in the Shipping division. It was ascertained that in previous years the division had been reporting fuel use which actually falls within the responsibility and ownership of third parties. The use of improved definitions and performance data will ensure enhanced comparability in future. The services of an independent verification agency have not been used for this report. |