S3 – Affected communities

Peab and affected communities

Positive impacts / opportunities

Negative impacts / risks

As a local community builder Peab operates in many places in the Nordic region. Contributing positively to community development is at the core of our business. We respect and promote society’s social and cultural rights and work to strengthen relations with the communities where we operate. Being useful locally is clearly defined through our Group target of leader in social responsibility. We contribute with housing, infrastructure and environments that promote local community life. At the same time we are aware that construction and civil engineering operations can have negative impacts such as infringing on other desires or intentions for a place. The people that live and work close to our operations can or will be impacted. We therefore strive to avoid negative impacts on the communities where we operate. We do this by being active in the local civil society, particularly through our customers, suppliers and other actors in local democratic decision-making processes. Peab also has a responsibility to communities that can or will be impacted by both upstream and downstream operations in the value chain, which increases the number of impacted or potentially impacted communities.

One of the areas our customers increasingly emphasize is the importance of collaboration around a joint responsibility for forming the society of the future. For Peab this is a positive development and a key part of our business model. We design attractive homes and safe residential environments, operate our quarries and factories responsibly as well as promote local sports clubs and associations and youths’ education and development. We also create communities and design green areas, meeting places and accessibility to service facilities. By participating in a continual dialogue with relevant departments in municipalities where the local community contributes, Peab plays an important role in forming sustainable, vibrant and inclusive communities.

The community building sector in Nordic countries is strictly regulated, for example through the Swedish Planning and Building Act, the Norwegian Planning and Building Act and the Finnish Land Use and Building Act. The overall purpose of these laws is to create healthy, safe and enjoyable living environments that function socially and where the needs of different sections of the population are considered. These laws are integrated into our business processes. Through them we ensure that the perspective of the communities we affect are considered in our decisions as well as when and how consultations with impacted communities and their representatives should be held.

Regarding affected communities, Peab’s impact is material for communities’ economic, social and cultural rights. Within this sustainable topic we have particularly identified the sub-topics adequate housing, land-related impact and security-related impact as material.

Below are examples of activities regarding affected communities that have or can have an impact:

Upstream: Peab’s suppliers, for example in building material, transportation and energy supply or subcontractors, must in accordance with the Supplier Code of Conduct  ensure that they do not infringe on the rights of the local community, for instance, through negative impacts on land and the environment and by making sure that production and deliveries are performed safely.

Own operations: Peab creates the conditions for local community life by building attractive homes and safe residential areas. Those who live and work close to Peab’s workplaces such as construction sites, factories or offices can be impacted negatively by changes in the landscape and positively by the effect on local economies and labor markets.

Downstream: Viewpoints, complaints or written reports from citizens and other societal stakeholders on Peab’s operations and end products.

Affected communities is linked to the UN’s 11th global goal for sustainable development: Sustainable cities and communities.

Process regarding materiality

We have conducted a double materiality assessment for S3, affected communities, on Group level. In order to evaluate Peab’s impacts, risks and opportunities we have incorporated key employees and functions with knowledge and particular insight into Peab’s operations’ impact on communities including a number of employees from other Group functions. This has taken place through meetings and workshops where we have compiled and evaluated Peab’s sustainability matters in all the S3 sustainability topics according to the template we produced. Based on this we identified the impacts, risks and opportunities that are material for Peab. The function non-financial reporting has coordinated the process regarding materiality, which has been conducted as described in the section ESRS 2 on page 49.

We continue to work on developing our process and assessments in order to fully determine the result of the double materiality assessment. This work comprises continued data compilation from stakeholders in and outside the organization.

This is how we work

Peab’s bottom line is complying with Nordic legislation. We and our partners must naturally follow the laws and regulations valid for the markets where we operate. In addition we also comply with international guidelines, norms and initiatives such as UN Global Compact, UN’s Human Rights Declaration, UN’s Global Goals, OECD’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) and the general principles in the international regulations for human rights. Our policies and guidelines conform to these commitments.

Responsibility and policies

Our foundation is our core values – down-to-earth, developing, personal and reliable – that guide us in everything we do. In addition to these values Peab has a Code of Conduct and a Supplier Code of Conduct that clarify Peab’s commitment to social responsibility and human rights. Through these policies and guidelines we ensure that we and our suppliers take responsibility for both the risks and opportunities in the communities that are impacted by our joint operations. We also have guidelines for the process of due diligence that describe how the company identifies and assesses potential negative impacts on humans and the environment as well as how we work actively to avoid and minimize them, and procedures for compensating any negative impacts caused by our operations.

In addition to the governance documents, we follow Group policies in areas like the work environment, environment and information management.

Peab also has the business plan program “Quality-assured and traceable value chain” aimed at monitoring and developing our work with social issues and societal impact in the value chain.

Each business area has its procedures and guidelines for our activities that impact the communities we operate in such as local consultation in connection with project development or establishing a quarry. According to our business management system responsibility for this lies with the respective operations managers.

Work method and focus area

We strive to minimize disruptions and ensure that local economic, social and cultural rights are respected, including the project’s effect on indigenous peoples’ rights. Our three material sustainability topics – adequate housing, land-related impacts and security-related impacts are hard to separate because they are woven into our business.  We have procedures, depending on the operations and project, to seek the views and protect the interests and rights of people in the communities impacted by our operations. These matters are crucial to the success of our projects and therefore have a direct impact on Peab’s business model and strategy.

We involve communities impacted by construction projects through, for instance, consultation processes with local residents. We do this both to minimize negative impact on local interests and identify possibilities. Creating attractive and safe homes and residential areas is a given for us. Following laws and ordinances as well as democratically established processes we participate, for example, in developing comprehensive plans together with municipalities and other developers and in this way contribute to the groundwork for future planning programs.

For operations that require permits, like quarries or environmentally hazardous operations that could have an impact on a community, citizen dialogues are part of the regulated process. Dialogues with relevant departments and with the community’s chosen representatives are therefore a natural part of our work. We use different forms of dialogue and regularly hold network meetings, collaboration projects, information meetings and study visits. We have active contact with municipal and regional decision-making organs and engage in consultation, environmental reporting, vision work, mentorship, sponsoring projects and citizen dialogues. Our preventative work is also important in connection with implementing a project. Information to, and a dialogue with, neighbors and surrounding stakeholders take place before, during and after we do the work.

Whistleblowing

We have several well-functioning channels for external parties to come into contact with Peab, for example our customer service or websites. We also offer a web-based whistleblower system that guarantees anonymity for the user. Usually though, a dialogue takes place through direct contact with one of our local offices or a worker at one of our workplaces. Neighboring residents to one of Peab’s operations often contact us with questions or viewpoints. These might concern noise, transportation that hinders passability or disturbing smells from asphalt paving. We work transparently, systematically and preventatively through long-term measures, particularly when it comes to remedying problems. We are supported in this by established work methods for incident management.

Other focus areas

Focus on children and youths

We want as many children and youths in the Nordic countries as possible to have equal access to leisure activities, education or a step up into the labor force. This is an important part of our strategic target to be a leader in social responsibility.

Different types of demands for taking social responsibility occur in almost all our projects. Through our concept Peab Life we have in recent years created collaborations with partners in many places in the Nordic region to promote the development of children and youths. Our Peab Life collaborations are primarily with schools and sports clubs and we usually try to invest in youths in socioeconomic disadvantaged areas or youths that in some other way risk alienation. In Gothenburg, for example, we have an ongoing collaboration with “Anpassade Gymnasiet” (Special Needs High School), which is a school for youths with disabilities. During the year we carried out several study visits, Peab employees participated in creative lessons and we arranged summer jobs for a group of youths from the school.

Together with the organization “Smartmatte” (Smart Math) we visited schools and worked with reality-based professional mathematics and met around 370 middle school students.

In collaboration with real estate company Backahill have a long lasting cooperation with Ängelholm High School where students get the chance to contribute to development of the city district Kronodalen. In the coming years they will, for instance, conduct market surveys and hold dialogues with other youths to generate ideas and viewpoints that we can then incorporate into how the area should develop. All the results will be reported to us and our partners, and some of the youths’ ideas concerning lighting are already part of the planning for the area.

During 2024 Peab Life carried out 40 (38) activities involving more than 3,000 (2,000) children, youths and students in local collaborations.

Focus on sponsoring

Peab sponsors local sports clubs and other organizations that strive for activity, equality and inclusion. Our spons­oring is governed by Peab’s guidelines specific to it and one condition is that all sponsored activities give back something to the community. Most of our sponsoring is earmarked for sports for children and youths. The Group Sponsoring Council meets once a month to decide on sponsoring requests. Sponso­ring commitments and Peab Life programs are often coordinated. In total we have sponsored around 300 Nordic associations during the year and thereby created opportunities for thousands of children and youths.

Our Project Development operations have a specified commitment in their business plan where every started-up project has a sum reserved for local sponsoring and an effort is made to carry out citizen dialogues spotlighting children and youths.

Focus on equality

Peab works actively to contribute to a more equal construction and civil engineering industry. One initiative in this work is trainee pro­gram­ The Construction Year. This is an educational program for women, which the first group completed in September 2024.  The Construction Year gives Peab the opportunity to employ women in our local organizations through a special kind of contract for company trainees where we mix theory and practice at our workplaces during basic education. This allows us to train new skilled workers. We only offer placement in the program in places and professions where we actually need people and can offer long-term employment. The result from the first year is that 36 women, most of them without any prior knowledge of the profession, started in the program. Of them 25 were given a permanent position at Peab and continued their trainee period. Another four continued in the industry but in other companies and two chose to apply to industry courses at the University of Applied Sciences.

At the same time the first round of The Construction Year trainees completed their training the program started up its second round with 19 new trainees.

Focus on education

In the same spirit we want to give newly graduated college engineers and civil engineers a good start to their careers through an annual trainee program. Last year engineers from Luleå in the north to Malmö in the south began the program that offers a comprehensive leadership course and field experience at different workplaces in the Group. Of the 22 participants 14 were women, which also contributes to Peab’s equality target.

Another concrete example of how Peab affects society is The Peab School we have run since 2006. Currently The Peab School is in Malmö, Gothenburg and Solna. We are the only major construction and civil engineering company in Sweden that runs its own schools completely focused on vocational education. In 2024 The Peab School had 282 (280) students in the construction and civil engineering program and introduction program for vocational training. In June 2024 80 (84) students graduated and became part of the labor force or continued their studies. Over the last 19 years 1,921 students received their high school education through Peab.

Focus on long-term unemployed

We have a number of contracts with municipalities in our operation and maintenance operations that contain wording regarding taking social responsibility through bringing long-term unemployed into our workplaces. In order to be really sure we can handle this commitment and that those who get a job at Peab this way enjoy it, we have together with the Swedish Public Employment Service in Helsingborg and Malmö produced a special approach called Jobbspår (Job Track). Before someone is employed they receive an education that also includes on-the-job training. In that way both we as employers and the applicants get a better understanding of the conditions. In total 29 long-term unemployed participated in the course in 2024, of which 20 were offered employment.

Activities 2024

• Managed the smell of asphalt plants through contacts, dialogue and action in connection with complaints about the smell of asphalt plants.
• Several local dialogues together with customers and other stakeholders in connection with construction contract projects, for example with Gothenburg City about the construction of Göteborg Grand Central and Umeå Municipality regarding environmental aspects.
• Participation in the educational system through student meetings at the technical universities in Gothenburg, Borås, Jönköping, Stockholm and several other places. A key theme of these meetings was listening to the students’ thoughts about the construction industry’s social responsibility and sustainability work.

Looking ahead

We intend to work further based on the conclusions of the double materiality assessment regarding affected communities in order to develop processes and work methods as well as our ability to report according to the disclosure requirements in CSRD legislation. Part of this work is to further clarify our responsibility for contact with the communities that are impacted by our operations or value chains.

Targets and metrics

Currently we do not have any targets or metrics but we intend to evaluate the need for them.