Stakeholder Engagement & Materiality
Stakeholder Engagement & Materiality
We are proud of the significant progress made since we published our first sustainability report 13 years ago, in 2009. Our commitment to embracing change and maturing our approach to sustainability has been key to our company’s success and performance. In 2022, we enhanced the sustainability programs that make our company efficient, improved the management of our material topics and engaged internal and external stakeholders on sustainability. Our 2022 GRI-aligned report showcases our accomplishments and progress on our long-term sustainability goals.
Value Chain
Greif’s value chain consists of raw material suppliers, transportation and distribution partners, customers, life cycle services and external stakeholders that influence our activities.
Materiality Assessment Process
In late 2020, we conducted a robust materiality assessment to build on the one we conducted in 2017 to identify and prioritize our material sustainability topics, engage key stakeholders and inform our sustainability strategies, reporting and communications. The assessment was led by a third party and conducted in accordance with industry best practices for material topic identification and stakeholder engagement. We analyzed a wide range of sources to determine and reaffirm potential material topics, including internal documents, in-depth interviews with customers, peer sustainability reports and more. We also conducted interviews and surveys with Greif leadership and external stakeholders, consolidating with the findings from our source review to prioritize our most material topics.
Through the materiality assessment process, we prioritized 17 material issues based on their importance to internal and external stakeholders, adding Diversity, Equity & Inclusion as a new material topic. We incorporated the assessment results into our sustainability strategy and significantly increased our focus on climate and circularity. The results were reviewed and validated with Greif’s leadership during a third-party-led validation workshop.
Material Topics
Greif’s most recent stakeholder engagement and materiality assessment process validated many historically important topics to our company and stakeholders, identifying the material issues described below. These issues guide and form our sustainability strategies and serve as the basis for our reporting. Our sustainability reporting addresses topics of high concern to each group, as indicated below, and yielded topic owners in Greif and goals for 2025 and 2030. We continue to strengthen our approach to managing and addressing the opportunities available to our company.
Throughout this report, you will learn about our goals, management approach and performance for our material topics.
| Material Topic | Boundary | Stakeholders Engaged, Types of Stakeholder Engagement & Concerns Raised | ||||
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| Greif’s Board of Directors & Leaders |
Customers | Investors | Society/Community | Environment | ||
| Types of Engagement | Daily interactions, impact mapping interviews, materiality assessment survey, quarterly updates on sustainabiltiy | Daily interactions, bi-annual satisfaction surveys, materiality assessment interviews | Daily interactions, investor day events, materiality assessment interviews | Community engagement (face-to-face meetings, interviews, survey), community service events | Greif LCA, interviews with sustainability experts (e.g., WBCSD) | |
| Delivering Superior Customer Experience | ||||||
Product Quality Producing products that maintain high performance and value through superior design and manufacturing across facilities, driving customer satisfaction and averting throw-away dynamics. |
All internal operations; during use |  |
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Customer Service Excellence Creating effective policies, systems, best practices and incentives that drive the highest level of customer service; taking into account customer feedback regularly and having systems in place to address their needs; outperforming competitors. |
All internal operations; all customers | |
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| Reducing Our Footprint | ||||||
Environmental Management Systems Utilizing a comprehensive environmental management system with dedicated environmental management resources (i.e. personnel, budget, etc.), an environmental policy, certifications (e.g., ISO 14001) and compliance. |
All internal operations | |
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Climate Strategy
Creating a climate strategy to address risks, opportunities and impacts such as changes in energy and emissions regulation (carbon taxes, efficiency regulations, etc.), increasing operational costs, renewable energy, natural disaster preparedness and social impacts; managing and reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
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All internal operations | |
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Water Reducing water use, particularly in facilities with significant water use and water stressed regions; returning wastewater to a safe state. |
PPS operations | |
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Waste
Managing and reducing waste (hazardous and non-hazardous) in Greif’s operations; reducing waste to landfill; reclaiming waste and byproducts for beneficial reuse.
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All internal operations | |
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| Addressing Risk | ||||||
Ethics & Compliance Maintaining governance structures, practices and training that promotes ethical behavior and steering clear of anti-competitive behaviors (bribery, corruption, etc.). |
All internal operations; all suppliers | |
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Risk Management & Business Continuity Regularly conducting risk assessments that include environmental, social and governance factors: determining high-risk suppliers (only one supplier), high risk/politically unstable regions (e.g., weather impacts in Houston) and potential labor-related work stoppages; putting plans in place to ensure uninterrupted supply, operations and delivery to customers (e.g., qualifying backup suppliers). |
All internal operations; all suppliers | |
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Security Adopting a proactive approach to information security—including personal data and intellectual property—taking into account not only Greif’s internal level of protection, but also the security of the entities with whom Greif is connected (suppliers, employees, customers, etc.); taking necessary measures to ensure that Greif’s customers’ customers receive what they order versus counterfeit products. |
All internal operations | |
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| Valuing Our People | ||||||
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Ensuring fair hiring processes and a non-discriminatory work environment; fostering an inclusive and diverse culture that reflects the communities where Greif operates; striving to achieve equitable pay and treatment among all employees, regardless of any characteristics such as race, ethnicity, color, nationality, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, language, religion, creed, social status, disability, or any other legally protected class.
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All internal operations | |
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Talent Attraction, Development & Retention Attracting and retaining qualified and talented employees, managers and executives. Cultivating a culture of growth and development through education, training, mentorship, performance reviews, coaching, etc. |
All internal operations | |
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Health & Safety
Promoting and practicing the highest standards of workplace health, safety and well-being through management systems, targets, policies, programs, trainings, certifications, audits and compliance.
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All internal operations; Community | |
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Human Rights & Fair Labor Practices Ensuring compliance with laws, standards and internal policies on topics within the realm of human rights and fair labor practices such as child labor, forced labor, fair remuneration, human trafficking, working conditions, freedom of association, collective bargaining, discrimination and conflict-free minerals. |
All internal operations; all suppliers | |
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| Advancing Circular Economy | ||||||
Innovation Carefully considering raw material inputs and alternative and recycled materials (e.g., post-consumer resins, water-based paints and linings, recycled wood pallets) based on environmental and social impacts; reducing the amount of materials used in Greif’s products; taking customers’ specific needs and Greif’s expertise and using that to drive innovative, customized solutions to drive business growth. |
All internal operations; suppliers; customers | |
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Circular Economy
Advancing the circular economy within the packaging industry by taking actions that enable reconditioning, reuse and recycling of products at end of life, including avoiding mixtures of plastics and developing designs that enable recycling (e.g. fully recyclable fibre drums); educating and incentivizing customers to return/recycle Greif’s packaging materials; creating policies, processes, targets and tools to support these efforts.
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Reconditioning operations; reconditioning partners; customers | |
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Supply Chain Management |
All internal operations; all suppliers; trucking partners | |
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| Financial Performance & Profitable Growth | ||||||
Financial Performance & Profitable Growth Maintaining a sustainable business model by implementing integrated economic practices that allow Greif to provide economic value to its stakeholders (e.g. employees, suppliers, and shareholders) and invest in long-term growth. |
All internal operations | |
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