Dufry ESG Charta

This is not the first feature about sustainability that we’ve put together for Dufry World. Over the last few years, several topics around sustainability – or ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) – have been covered in this publication. However, the latest corporate development in connection with this is worth sharing as it’s an important one, impacting the whole company. This development is the creation of Dufry´s ESG Strategy Charta. But what it is exactly an ESG Strategy Charta? By definition, a Charta is “a formal document from the sovereign or state incorporating a city, bank, college, etc., and specifying its purposes and rights”. And to some extent, this is exactly what Dufry´s ESG Strategy Charta is about. It’s a definition of how ESG sits within our company, how it’s governed and which areas it influences.

The development of this Charta isn’t Dufry’s first step within the ESG arena. This journey started several years ago with many different initiatives carried out by the company under the Environmental, Social and Governance domains. The Charta is the consequence of a maturing process that Dufry has gone through when it comes to sustainability and that has resulted in the definition of a strategic and long-term approach to sustainability.

Integration of Sustainability and Company Strategies

As a large multinational and multicultural company, with operations in 65 countries and employees representing over 130 nationalities, Dufry is aware that the impact of its operations goes beyond its financial goals. The traditional growth and profit-maximization corporate model gave way years ago to a corporate sustainability model, which recognizes that growth and profitability are important, but corporations also need to pursue societal goals relating to sustainable development, environmental protection, social justice and equity, and economic development. This requires synchronization and alignment of all the sustainability-driven initiatives with Dufry´s underlying business model and strategic focus, with the aim of ensuring that both strategies deliver on the ultimate objective of generating sustainable growth.

Introducing the Focus Areas

These high-level goals have to be somewhat simplified or “brought down to earth” to enable them to be transformed into concrete actions. For this purpose, Dufry´s ESG Charta therefore identifies four main areas in which the company can actively generate positive contributions to maintain high standards of environmental stewardship and social equity. These four areas are the result of a careful assessment of our stakeholder ecosystem and include:

• Employee Experience - As ambassadors of the company and the first point of interaction with our stakeholders, this focus area is of critical importance for Dufry. Initiatives towards employee recruitment, wellbeing and retention, training and professional development, rewarding employee health and safety, and actions geared to promote a diverse and multi-cultural work environment are all under this agenda.
  
  
• Customer Focus – Dufry monitors all interactions at all stages of the customer journey, from the sourcing of products from our brand partners, to the point at which these are handed over to the customer in the shops, or at home in case of home-delivery and the post-sale services. The scope of this area of focus includes specific initiatives related to product safety, appropriate marketing and communication practices (especially important for the liquor and tobacco product categories), customer privacy and data protection, and customer feedback, amongst others.
  
  
• Protecting Environment – Despite the fact that Dufry operates stores in highly regulated, third-party owned premises, such as airports, where our power of influence over environmental factors is limited, there are opportunities for Dufry to have a positive environmental impact. These include, amongst others, collaborating with airports, airport associations and other Dufry stakeholders to reduce the C0₂ footprint, monitoring our emissions, reducing material consumption and optimizing our logistics.
  
  
• Trusted Partner – The long-term sustainability of our business relies on our capacity to build trusted relations with all our stakeholders. For this reason, we place our focus on building a strong Group governance, robust compliance and risk management systems and active engagement with our stakeholders, to remain on top of existing and emerging issues impacting the business.
  

ESG Governance

The deployment of Dufry´s ESG strategy is a joint effort involving many players within the company. The Corporate Communications & Public Affairs team, in close cooperation with the Legal and Compliance teams, are responsible for ensuring the day-to-day implementation of the defined initiatives.

The initiatives are driven by the interdisciplinary ESG Committee, which includes members from Dufry´s Global Executive Committee, as well as other functional heads representing their areas of operation across the company, whilst the overall supervision of the strategic implementation is within the scope of the Board of Directors.

The result: a well-oiled machine that will enable the company to make the necessary steps forward to take sustainability in Dufry to the next level.