Peter Oostendorp, Manager, Nedap Smart
Through smarter packaging of our products, we use less packaging material. As a result we save up to 70% on volume and we reduce our carbon emissions.
In 2022, we added further detail to our ambitions for the various material topics within the four focus areas, partly based on input from our stakeholder dialogue. We also took important steps towards greater transparency of our sustainable impact, as well as to increase our sustainable impact. While our ambition for some topics is very specific and quantifiable, ambitions for other material topics are of a qualitative nature or are still being developed.
Stakeholder dialogue
We regularly use surveys as part of our ongoing stakeholder dialogue. In 2022, we conducted another employee engagement survey, the outcome of which is a key factor in setting the Board of Directors’ variable pay. Every year, the firm we have engaged to conduct our employee engagement surveys, surveys a different section of the organisation, so that the whole organisation is surveyed in three years.
This year, the employees of the Retail business unit and departments that are not part of a specific business unit, i.e. corporate teams and Smart, filled in the survey. As in previous years, the survey showed that Nedap employees are highly committed, immensely proud of Nedap, and feel right at home at the company. Employees did mention, however, that they want to be kept even better informed on the direction the company is taking and the progress that is being made by Nedap as a whole. During the current financial year, stepping up our internal communications will, therefore, be one of the spearheads.
Additionally, Nedap engaged another external firm to conduct a customer satisfaction survey in 2022, which showed that customers of the various business units are highly satisfied with Nedap in general: ‘On average, customers give Nedap’s products and services an 8 out of 10, and only 3% of customers gave a rating of 6 or lower. The high customer satisfaction rating comes mainly on the back of high satisfaction levels for Nedap software (8.1), the online portals (8.1), and technical support. Nedap’s Net Promoter Score of +48 is also very high, proving that the products and services are “on point”’.
Employees
Given the great importance we place on our people’s development, we formulated the ambition in 2022 that every employee must be able to spend at least 40 hours on their personal and professional development every year. In 2022, 47% of the 386 employees who took a survey on this subject stated that they did indeed dedicate at least 40 hours to their development in that year. By ‘development’ we mean any form of learning and personal growth, ranging from engaging in new projects with new tasks to gain experience in a different field to taking skills training, attending coaching sessions, or any other kind of personal development process. Through active workforce communication and other means, we raise employees’ awareness of the importance of setting development goals and we keep encouraging them to pursue development. Additionally, team captains take training on how to engage with employees on the importance of development goals and how to encourage employees to get serious about their development.
When it comes to diversity, we formulated a new target in 2022, which is that the gender ratio in senior management must be the same as the gender ratio for Nedap as a whole. See also section 4.5 Diversity and inclusion of the Corporate Governance chapter. Over the past financial year, various diversity and inclusion-related topics were addressed on an internal platform. (see Section 2.3 ‘People, culture and leadership’).
Operations
Over the past financial year, various initiatives have contributed to making our operations more sustainable. We have also defined specific objectives that will help achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, including the objective of making our fleet of vehicles sustainable. In 2022, our carbon emissions totalled 1,083 metric tons of CO2 (2021: 1,115), i.e. down 3.0% on 2021. On a per-FTE basis, CO2 in kg dropped from 1,439 to 1,307, which is a decline of 9.2%.
Renewable energy
Since 2014, we have been procuring only green power. On top of that, we continued to invest in heat pumps, thermal wheels, LED lighting, and EV charging points in 2022.Sustainable building management
In late 2022, we completed a major renovation of the oldest building of our headquarters in Groenlo. For this renovation, we looked specifically at ecological aspects, such as insulation. Sustainable materials were used, heat pumps were installed for a sustainable energy supply, and sensors were placed to minimise energy consumption. Materials from the old building were also reused as much as possible, including the concrete ceiling slabs. Additionally, the new building layout is all about creating a space where people can meet and work together. The spaces have been designed for multifunctionality. The building makes the most of daylight, and the acoustics and lighting help create a pleasant work environment. The building was reopened in December.
In 2022, we started work on a multi-year plan to also make the other buildings sustainable over the coming years. As part of this plan, we performed a 3D scan last financial year of the insulation ratings and roof loading of the entire headquarters. The results of this scan will be used to plan further sustainability investments.
Sustainable fleet of vehicles
As at the end of 2022, 37% of our vehicles are either fully electric vehicles or hybrids (2021: 27%). In anticipation of our migration to a fully fossil fuel-free fleet by 2030, we will cease to buy fossil fuel vehicles from 2025 and are now actively pursuing a policy to encourage employees to choose an electric car.Travel and commuting
On top of all the above initiatives targeting scope 1 and 2 emissions, we are also committed to further reducing carbon emissions from business travel and commuting, i.e. scope 3 emissions.
Over the past two years, travel was restricted greatly by the COVID-19 pandemic, which ultimately led to people now, with all travel restrictions lifted, taking a more critical look at whether travel is actually necessary and, much more so than prior to the pandemic, opting for a virtual appointment. When we do decide to travel, it is our policy to choose the train for business travel whenever possible. When flying is inevitable, we keep the frequency and the number of people travelling to an absolute minimum.
In 2022, we also started to look into how to reduce carbon emissions from our employees’ daily commute as effectively as possible. Based on the resulting insights, we intend to further develop the policy aimed at cutting carbon emissions from commuting. In order to garner maximum support and boost internal motivation for efforts to make employees’ commute more sustainable, we launched an internal Sustainability Challenge in late 2022, which will see a group of around 15 employees work out a number of mobility concepts.
Partners/products
We performed a Product Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) for three of our propositions. The results released in 2022 showed that most gains are to be had by reducing carbon emissions. The analysis looked at, among other things, the effects of natural resource extraction, the use of harmful chemical substances, product manufacturing, transport, and usage, and finally waste processing and reuse opportunities. We thus gained valuable insights into what stage of our products’ life cycle to target for carbon footprint reduction, i.e. the stage where efforts to this effect have the greatest potential impact. The most important outcome is that electricity consumption during the usage phase has by far the greatest carbon impact.
Based on these insights, we have started to map the carbon emissions generated by our entire portfolio, except for Nedap’s software services. The analysis is intended to create insight into how to help reduce carbon emissions from our propositions across the supply chain. Based on this measurement, which we will use as a baseline measurement, we will formulate a carbon reduction target in 2023 for the hardware components in our portfolio. We will also make an action plan on how to reach this target.
Software
We use data centres for our software services. In the context of the EU Taxonomy, we qualify these activities as a transition activity that contributes to climate change mitigation. The data centres that Nedap uses the most all meet the European code of conduct for energy efficiency in data centres, which we verify based on information from these data centres’ certification (ISO 14001 and ISO 50001). As a result, the lion’s share of revenue generated by our software operations complies with the EU Taxonomy.
