Introduction
As we navigate through the dynamic landscape of our industry, I am proud to present our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report for the year 2023. After the COVID-19 pandemic eased in many regions, new human conflicts, extreme weather events and supply chain challenges impacted both Royal Smit & Zoon and the global economy. Science shows that humanity is exceeding planetary boundaries, while a growing world population projects a parallel increase in the supply of hides and the end consumer is seeking for sustainable leather goods. Leather is an upcycled by-product of the meat-industry that uses all natural resources as efficiently as possible while supporting circular economy principles and reducing waste.
Within this context, our mission to ‘Create a Socially and Environmentally Sustainable Leather Value Chain, together’ has never been more relevant or valid. That’s why this report is not just a compilation of statistics: it shows our commitment and continuous improvement in aligning our activities with our mission and provides you understanding on our impacts and activities. It also demonstrates ESG is at the core of our strategy as it is critical to ensuring continuity for our family-owned business.
Rooted in our ESG Roadmap 2025 commitments, this report highlights various milestones in 2023: We achieved the EcoVadis Platinum rating (from Gold in 2022 and 2021), next to renewing our Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) Conformance Level 3 certifications and maintaining ISO certifications for all our production entities. We established ESG targets for all key management positions and specific job holders participating in our incentive program. Moreover, we launched a training program for our Sales Partners on the safe management and handling of chemicals, and continued and expanded our multi-year training program on the Employee Code of Conduct. Strong efforts were dedicated to education, demonstrating our thought leadership, and we shared our knowledge through guest lectures to 27 partner tanneries, 57 brands and 7 educational institutions. With our profound belief in the ‘Power of Partnerships’, we continued our involvement in key industry networks and organizations, including Leather Working Group, Sustainable Leather Foundation, ZDHC, and Leather Naturally.
“Create a Socially and Environmentally Sustainable Leather Value Chain, together.”
As a provider of sustainable solutions to the industry, we were pleased to experience an ever-growing adoption of Zeology, our chrome-free, heavy metal-free, and aldehyde-free tanning agent. In addition, further product developments within the remit of our strategy were done, like lignin-modified re-tanning agents, biopolymers based on sugar beet pectins, and environmental and performance-optimized retanning products. Please check our websites for more solutions and information.
We want to continue driving progress and transformative action throughout the entire leather value chain. This involves staying ahead of stakeholder expectations, particularly for (data-driven) transparency and traceability of environmental and social impacts across supply chains. Recognizing the critical challenges posed by climate change, which directly affects the food system crucial to our business, we acknowledge a collective responsibility to reduce carbon footprints at all levels. At the same time, we need to navigate and comply with an unprecedented number of new laws and regulations that set higher standards for the entire industry.
As we are approaching 2025, a milestone year in our ESG Roadmap, we took significant next steps in our strategic journey. A notable achievement was conducting our double materiality assessment, a crucial step in anticipating and addressing the requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Throughout the assessment process, we engaged 333 stakeholders across our value chain, geographies, activities, business lines and relationships to Royal Smit & Zoon. My sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to this effort! It helped us understand our stakeholders’ perspectives, where we can have the most impact in creating a sustainable leather value chain and which ESG risks and opportunities have the biggest impact on our business.
With this knowledge, we can now pinpoint strategic priorities for the upcoming years. As we move into 2024, we are committed to building further on this momentum and develop our current ESG Roadmap 2025 into an enhanced ESG Strategy for 2030. I am convinced that focusing on these priorities not only allows us to maintain our leadership in ESG practices but also stay ahead. Moreover, aligning and integrating our ESG Strategy with our Company Strategy is essential. This strategic focus will not only reflect our commitment but also bring value to both our Company and society in the long term.
As we continue in our journey, I would like to thank our employees for what they achieved in challenging circumstances in 2023. One thing is for sure, our mission remains to ‘create a socially and environmentally sustainable value chain, together’. The key to progress lies in continuing our collaboration with you, our partners and stakeholders. By combining our unique strengths and our complementary capabilities, we can unlock new solutions and opportunities that will benefit us all. Please consider this also a sincere invitation to engage with us about what you have read. Your feedback is invaluable as we continue this journey together.
Marc Smit
CEO Royal Smit & Zoon
With this knowledge, we can now pinpoint strategic priorities for the upcoming years. As we move into 2024, we are committed to building further on this momentum and develop our current ESG Roadmap 2025 into an enhanced ESG Strategy for 2030. I am convinced that focusing on these priorities not only allows us to maintain our leadership in ESG practices but also stay ahead. Moreover, aligning and integrating our ESG Strategy with our Company Strategy is essential. This strategic focus will not only reflect our commitment but also bring value to both our Company and society in the long term.
As we continue in our journey, I would like to thank our employees for what they achieved in challenging circumstances in 2023. One thing is for sure, our mission remains to ‘create a socially and environmentally sustainable value chain, together’. The key to progress lies in continuing our collaboration with you, our partners and stakeholders. By combining our unique strengths and our complementary capabilities, we can unlock new solutions and opportunities that will benefit us all. Please consider this also a sincere invitation to engage with us about what you have read. Your feedback is invaluable as we continue this journey together.
Marc Smit
CEO Royal Smit & Zoon
As we are approaching 2025, a milestone year in our ESG Roadmap, we took significant next steps in our strategic journey. A notable achievement was conducting our double materiality assessment, a crucial step in anticipating and addressing the requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Throughout the assessment process, we engaged 333 stakeholders across our value chain, geographies, activities, business lines and relationships to Royal Smit & Zoon. My sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to this effort! It helped us understand our stakeholders’ perspectives, where we can have the most impact in creating a sustainable leather value chain and which ESG risks and opportunities have the biggest impact on our business.
As a provider of sustainable solutions to the industry, we were pleased to experience an ever-growing adoption of Zeology, our chrome-free, heavy metal-free, and aldehyde-free tanning agent. In addition, further product developments within the remit of our strategy were done, like lignin-modified re-tanning agents, biopolymers based on sugar beet pectins, and environmental and performance-optimized retanning products. Please check our websites for more solutions and information.
We want to continue driving progress and transformative action throughout the entire leather value chain. This involves staying ahead of stakeholder expectations, particularly for (data-driven) transparency and traceability of environmental and social impacts across supply chains. Recognizing the critical challenges posed by climate change, which directly affects the food system crucial to our business, we acknowledge a collective responsibility to reduce carbon footprints at all levels. At the same time, we need to navigate and comply with an unprecedented number of new laws and regulations that set higher standards for the entire industry.
“Create a Socially and Environmentally Sustainable Leather Value Chain, together.”
Within this context, our mission to ‘Create a Socially and Environmentally Sustainable Leather Value Chain, together’ has never been more relevant or valid. That’s why this report is not just a compilation of statistics: it shows our commitment and continuous improvement in aligning our activities with our mission and provides you understanding on our impacts and activities. It also demonstrates ESG is at the core of our strategy as it is critical to ensuring continuity for our family-owned business.
Rooted in our ESG Roadmap 2025 commitments, this report highlights various milestones in 2023: We achieved the EcoVadis Platinum rating (from Gold in 2022 and 2021), next to renewing our Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) Conformance Level 3 certifications and maintaining ISO certifications for all our production entities. We established ESG targets for all key management positions and specific job holders participating in our incentive program. Moreover, we launched a training program for our Sales Partners on the safe management and handling of chemicals, and continued and expanded our multi-year training program on the Employee Code of Conduct. Strong efforts were dedicated to education, demonstrating our thought leadership, and we shared our knowledge through guest lectures to 27 partner tanneries, 57 brands and 7 educational institutions. With our profound belief in the ‘Power of Partnerships’, we continued our involvement in key industry networks and organizations, including Leather Working Group, Sustainable Leather Foundation, ZDHC, and Leather Naturally.
As we navigate through the dynamic landscape of our industry, I am proud to present our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report for the year 2023. After the COVID-19 pandemic eased in many regions, new human conflicts, extreme weather events and supply chain challenges impacted both Royal Smit & Zoon and the global economy. Science shows that humanity is exceeding planetary boundaries, while a growing world population projects a parallel increase in the supply of hides and the end consumer is seeking for sustainable leather goods. Leather is an upcycled by-product of the meat-industry that uses all natural resources as efficiently as possible while supporting circular economy principles and reducing waste.