Stakeholder engagement

Understanding the needs and concerns of our stakeholders informs our approach to sustainability and our future activity. Since 2007, we have engaged with stakeholders to understand their expectations and their perceptions of our sustainable development performance. Dialogue maintains trust, gains support for our activities and occasionally reconciles differing interests. It also helps us focus on areas for improvement so that we can take corrective action. We define stakeholders as internal and external interest groups who may have a significant impact on our business or who may be significantly affected by our operations.

We continue to engage with our investors and employees and with policymakers, NGOs, the communities in which we operate and other companies to inform our approach to sustainable development. Stakeholders are identified by reference to their expertise in sustainability topics of importance to us, their influence, and their willingness to collaborate. Our SwireTHRIVE 2.0 strategy was informed by gathering targeted feedback from select stakeholder groups; we engaged 15 experts from academia, financial institutions, peer companies, and civil society through focus group discussion and one-on-one interviews.

As part of our most recent comprehensive double and dynamic materiality assessment we commissioned an external consultancy to conduct engagement to ensure the material topics covered in this report continue to be relevant, and explore how topics may evolve.

Internal stakeholder input was acquired from Swire Pacific through 5 senior level interviews, topic expert focus group, and two sets of validation, which provided key insights into the importance of topics to Enterprise Value. External stakeholder input was also acquired through 10 one-on-one interviews with subject matter experts, which provided both quantitative and qualitative insight into the potential impact of topics on the environment and society.

We focused on dynamic materiality by examining with our stakeholders, a number of trends that might significantly evolve or newly emerge. Climate change mitigation and Climate resilience, Natural capital and resource use, and Technology and innovation were highlighted as topics that are expected to increase in significance to the greatest degree. Change drivers include increases in regulatory pressure, stakeholder expectation, financial costs to manage these topics, and in the case of technology, the impact of artificial intelligence.

Global environmental agreements such as the Paris Agreement, the forthcoming UN Plastics Treaty and Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework are expected to influence national laws where we do business. Corporate due diligence laws will heighten scrutiny on responsible sourcing practices. Locally, regulations on single-use plastics and municipal solid waste charging are prominent issues for Hong Kong regulators. New regulations are expected to have an impact on various material issues, for example, effective sustainability governance, responsible sourcing, and technological innovation.

Feedback we receive from stakeholders informs our approach to sustainable development strategy development, our policies, practices, and target setting. Stakeholders considered Talent attraction and retention, Employee wellbeing, and Workplace health and safety to be topics requiring strong management practices. Read about our management of these topics in People and Talent management.

Governance of social issues included the topics of Labour practices and human rights and Responsible sourcing. Read about our management of these topics in Supply chain.

Community topics raised by our stakeholders included local development and income inequality. Read about our management of these topics in Communities.