Peab works daily to improve everyday life for people where they live it in the Nordic region. We do this by building everything from homes, schools, retirement homes and hospitals to bridges, roads and other infrastructure in our communities.

For Peab sustainability entails running a business that takes responsibility for both its own impact and the impact of the entire value chain upstream and downstream, as well as working for the good community. Working sustainably is a strategic matter for us, completely integrated into our business model and operations. We make it clear that every employee should promote sustainable development in their role based on Peab’s core values, business concept, mission, strategic targets and Code of Conduct.

We operate over a broad spectrum of community building which naturally has both positive and negative effects on the world around us. We provide our employees with secure employment and meaningful careers with development opportunities but at the same time the frequency of injuries in the construction and civil engineering industry is high and our employees are exposed to risks on construction sites that can lead to accidents. The industry is traditionally male dominated, which entails a lack of gender equality and diversity. Furthermore, there are risks for ethical transgressions in the complex value chains common for the community building sector. Therefore we have a responsibility to ensure that our suppliers follow good ethics and care about the environment and human rights.

Our operations impact the environment and climate in various ways. For example, materials we use, like concrete and steel, generate carbon emissions and other components are environmentally and health hazardous. We use the earth’s finite resources and have to become better at working circularly and resource efficiently as well as caring about the impact we have on nature and fostering biodiversity. We put the same demands on our suppliers and their suppliers and have an ongoing dialogue with our customers to help them achieve their environmental and climate goals. Collaboration is a prerequisite for positive change and transition.

As a major local actor and Nordic employer it is important that through cooperation and dialogue we understand the needs and challenges society is facing, in particular those in our local communities. By comprehending this we can contribute to local development while reducing the negative impact of our business.

We want to take responsibility, either by contributing to a more climate-​adapted use of material, healthy competition or safe and inclusive workplaces. As one of the largest Nordic community builders we have decided to be the Best workplace and Leader in social responsibility in our industry. This is a commitment that comes with obligations, which is why we have set up and monitor targets for these areas, along with the Group’s financial targets.

Our material sustainability aspects are processed within the framework of our four strategic targets, and in particular the two mentioned above: Best workplace and Leader in social responsibility. The targets also comprise our external and internal targets.

Locally produced community building

Our four busi­ness areas that col­lab­o­rate lo­cal­ly are the basis for how we work with our ma­te­r­i­al sus­tain­abil­i­ty as­pects, which gives us good con­trol over the pro­cess­ing chain. Our em­ploy­ees should as far as pos­si­ble use local re­sources in the form of our own em­ploy­ees, our own input goods and sub­con­trac­tors. This, to­geth­er with our in­te­grat­ed cli­mate and en­vi­ron­men­tal work and en­gage­ment in peo­ple and the com­mu­ni­ty, forms the foun­da­tion of what we call lo­cal­ly pro­duced com­mu­ni­ty build­ing.

Eight material sustainability aspects 

Peab’s ma­te­r­i­al sus­tain­abil­i­ty as­pects form a unit in which the var­i­ous parts af­fect each other. Dur­ing the year in prepa­ra­tion for the new busi­ness plan for 2024-​2026 and the EU Cor­po­rate Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Re­port­ing Di­rec­tive (CSRD) we have worked to pro­duce a dou­ble ma­te­ri­al­i­ty as­sess­ment to up­date Peab’s ma­te­r­i­al sus­tain­abil­i­ty as­pects. We have an­a­lyzed the var­i­ous sus­tain­abil­i­ty as­pects that make up the Eu­ro­pean Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Re­port­ing Stan­dards (ESRS) and the ef­fect they have – or can have – as well as the ac­tu­al or po­ten­tial fi­nan­cial con­se­quences. We have eval­u­at­ed the sus­tain­abil­i­ty as­pects from a risks and op­por­tu­ni­ties per­spec­tive, sever­i­ty level and prob­a­bil­i­ty as well as im­pact – short, medi­um and long term. The ma­te­r­i­al sus­tain­abil­i­ty as­pects em­anate from both the areas where our busi­ness has a neg­a­tive ef­fect on peo­ple and the en­vi­ron­ment and where our busi­ness makes or can make a positive difference. In the analysis we have also considered the actual or potential impact on Peab’s main value chains. Ongoing dialogues with representatives from our stakeholders contribute as well to the double materiality analysis. These stakeholder dialogues are held with customers, suppliers, shareholders/investors, non-​governmental organizations and employees in various parts of our own organization. The stakeholder process has comprised meetings, interviews and different kinds of issues communicated to Peab by our stakeholders. Our assessment has also been based on studies, reports and relevant guidelines. We have determined threshold values based on all the contributions we have compiled and consider sustainability aspects higher than these threshold values to be material. Until we will report according to the CSRD law we will continue to have eight material sustainability aspects which will be reported within the GRI framework.

Our material sustainability aspects are categorized under the two strategic targets Best workplace and Leader in social responsibility and targets are set for them to ensure that they are integrated into our operations and governance.

Stakeholders guide us

Peab’s ma­te­r­i­al sus­tain­abil­i­ty as­pects and ac­tions are based on the ac­tu­al and po­ten­tial im­pact of our busi­ness on peo­ple and the en­vi­ron­ment by both our own op­er­a­tions and through­out our value chains. We have on­go­ing stake­hold­er di­a­logues with rep­re­sen­ta­tives from our stake­hold­er groups. This keeps us aware of the ex­pec­ta­tions and de­mands of our stake­hold­er groups and what is­sues are most im­por­tant to them. These di­a­logues take place in both in­for­mal meet­ings with cus­tomers, sup­pli­ers, em­ploy­ees and other stake­hold­ers and in more struc­tured con­texts such as sup­pli­er au­dits, meet­ings with politi­cians and other decision-​makers, owner and in­vestor di­a­logues and sem­i­nars at col­leges. The ac­cu­mu­lat­ed re­sult from these di­a­logues part­ly forms our ma­te­ri­al­i­ty analy­sis and sus­tain­abil­i­ty work pri­or­i­ties. In the di­a­logues – in­de­pen­dent of which stake­hold­er group – we in­form about the progress being made in our op­er­a­tions, pro­vide good ex­am­ples and ini­tia­tives but also point out the chal­lenges. In this way we can cre­ate and main­tain con­struc­tive and trans­par­ent con­ver­sa­tions and pro­mote col­lab­o­ra­tion that leads to ac­tu­al de­vel­op­ment.