ABOUT OUR REPORT
Report Overview
Welcome to Greif’s 14th annual sustainability report, based on our fiscal year, November 1, 2021, through October 31, 2022. This report is prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards and SASB Application Guidance and fulfills the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) annual Communication on Progress (COP). We also align our climate-related disclosures with recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). For questions on this report, please contact Aysu Katun, Vice President of Sustainability, at Aysu.Katun@Greif.com.
A Letter from Our CEO
Ole Rosgaard President and Chief Executive Officer
In 2022, Greif launched its Build to Last Strategy to help us achieve our vision of being the best-performing customer service company in the world. The strategy, focusing on four specific missions – Creating Thriving Communities, Delivering Legendary Customer Service, Protecting Our Future and Ensuring Financial Strength – establishes a roadmap for the company and outlines our commitment to our colleagues, our customers and stakeholders and our planet.
Sustainability is at the core of this strategy and is a part of everything we do. It includes decarbonizing our operations, advancing circular solutions, striving for a more diverse and inclusive workplace and capitalizing more fully on sustainable innovation. Our recently announced 2030 Sustainability Targets capture these priorities and underscore our commitment to building a more sustainable and equitable future.
In the attached report, serving as our communication of progress to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), I am pleased to share our sustainability performance for the 14th consecutive year. Below are a few highlights of our work from 2022:
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Greif added two new Colleague Resource Groups (CRGs): PRIDE (supportive network for LGBTQIA+ colleagues) and EDGE (Embrace Diversity of Greif), focused on expanding diversity within the company and bringing the total number of CRGs to six. Last year we had more than 1,000 active members globally. The company also had 90 percent of our colleagues complete the Gallup Engagement Survey. The results of the survey showed continuous year over year improvement in engagement and provided managers with targeted learning resources to construct action plans to further increase colleague engagement.
Customer Engagement
We achieved a score of 65.0 on our annual Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey, a five-point improvement from the previous year. This accomplishment underscores our focus on driving high-quality customer engagement to drive satisfaction and deliver on our promise of providing legendary customer service. Our ability to understand our customers’ urgency and provide accurate information is at the heart of everything we do at Greif and is fundamental to helping our customers accomplish their sustainability goals.
Innovation
Greif created a new company function dedicated to sustainable innovation. Through this new program, we focus on circularity and dematerialization principles as the central focus of our innovation efforts while continuing to develop our existing innovative solutions, such as the Greif Green Tool. Our immediate progress in innovation is apparent as we had over $1 billion in revenue from sustainability-tagged products, including life cycle services, for Greif’s Global Industrial Packaging (GIP) business unit in the past year alone.
Awards and Recognition
Finally, our sustainability and ESG initiatives continued to receive external recognition. Greif was awarded an A- rating from CDP on climate change and an AA rating from Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI). Greif was featured in Newsweek’s America’s Most Responsible Companies for the fourth consecutive year, Newsweek’s America’s 100 Most Loved Workplaces for the second consecutive year and Investor Business Daily’s List of 2022 Best ESG Companies for the first time.
I am proud of what we accomplished and the commitment our colleagues have shown to making sustainability an integral part of how the company does business. I look forward to building on that work this year as we embark on our 2030 sustainability targets.
Best Regards,
Ole Rosgaard
President and Chief Executive Officer
