ESG Investing in the Kitchenware Industry: Opportunities and Challenges
Stakeholders are leveraging innovation in pursuit of enhancing life at home as kitchenware industry players emphasize agility and resilience. Social and environmental sustainability have created value with companies envisaging investment in home appliances to broaden ESG commitments. A sustainable future could redefine ESG goals, including reducing emissions, enhancing energy efficiency, prioritizing diversity and doing away with single-use packaging. ESG management has become instrumental in ensuring efficient progress with an emphasis on quality improvement, ecological environment, employee welfare system, occupational health & safety, business ethics and protection of customers’ rights and interests.
Prominent players are well-positioned to assess and address risks, opportunities and impacts in the kitchenware landscape and navigate the robustly evolving space of ESG frameworks. Notably, the global push for sustainable development goals (SDGs) could propel the sustainability quotient to enhance business operations and benefit customers, communities, suppliers and employees. The adoption of ESG factors will provide a slew of upsides, including increased job satisfaction, reduced safety-related cases, and a productive workforce.
Key Companies in this theme
Environmental Perspective
Climate strategies and roadmaps for greenhouse gas emission reduction have come to the horizon as companies seek to contribute to global efforts to propel sustainability. Carbon efficiency has received uptake with companies bolstering their strategies and measures. For instance, in June 2022, Dollarama established its first Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions intensity reduction target. The company has set the 2030 target with strategies, including minimizing dependence on fossil fuels, enhancing the energy efficiency of stores and augmenting use of clean energy and renewable sources. An emphasis on the environment will not only have a positive influence on returns but also negate the risk to investments. Prominently, Whirlpool has placed science-based targets for greenhouse gas reductions and sustainability goals.
Kitchen companies are foraying into innovation and technology to address key issues and challenges. Whirlpool created a sustainable product playbook in 2021 with chapters on sustainable packaging and recycled plastic content. The company has exhibited an increased inclination for the reduction of GHG emissions and addressing plastic pollution—it alludes to using 8% recycled plastic in dishwashers. The American home appliance company set a compelling target to use an average 18% recycled plastic content by 2025 in the EMEA region. In 2021, while it showcased the technical feasibility to use recycled PP in home appliance applications, it also suggested that 28% of its manufacturing sites garnered higher Environmental Pillar scores. During the same period, 90% of sites received Zero Waste to Landfill (ZWtL) Gold or Platinum status and the multinational manufacturer attained GHG emissions scopes 1 & 2 Intensity and Water Intensity. Robust implementation of bullish initiatives and emphasis on renewables could act as a catalyst and offer sustainable upsides to kitchenware suppliers and manufacturers.
Creating and maintaining a zero-tolerance policy towards racial marginalization and recognizing the values of an inclusive workplace have provided avenues of growth. A diverse workforce with an emphasis on female representation, black and underrepresented minorities and goodwill in local communities has remained a vital cog to foster the ESG profile. Tupperware injected funds into mental health facilities and leapfrogged towards attaining global certification for gender equity in practices, pay equity, representation, skill-based hiring and inclusiveness. In 2021, women accounted for 68% of all new hires and 58% of the global workforce in Tupperware. Moreover, the U.S.-based company launched a workplace engagement survey, bolstered its internal communications and standardized bonus programs. The product manufacturer held talent assessments of managers and rolled out an e-learning platform, providing over 16,000 courses. The company asserts around 60% of Associates viewed more than 360 hours of content from courses, learning paths and videos.
Companies have also furthered their investments in training & development and employee welfare schemes. A prudent ESG strategy would potentially focus on products that can be accessible for underprivileged groups, including pregnant women, the elderly and children. LG has introduced braille stickers to help the visually impaired to use the function buttons. Besides, the South Korea-based company has created a safe working environment to provide an independent safety culture, boost employee satisfaction and offer a sustainable workplace. In an effort to propel diversity, LG aims to augment the ratio of female employees in Korea to 20% by 2030. Additionally, the company has operated childcare and breastfeeding facilities across 10 business sites in Korea, indicating a bullish approach toward ESG performance.
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Responsibilities for ESG-related opportunities and challenges reside with the Board of Directors. Well-established brands and emerging companies have come to the fore to create value through sound governance and the highest standards of legal & ethical conduct. Governance targets pertaining to the diversity of the Board of Directors strengthen the company profile in the global landscape. Some of the facets, such as internal audit, risk management, ethics & compliance have witnessed pronounced attention. In essence, the Board of Directors at Tupperware comprised 45% women as of December 2021. Meanwhile, Dollarama had over 30% female representation on its BoD in 2021. Besides, Tupperware formed a bullish roadmap for enterprise risk assessment in 2021 and hired a new Director of Compliance to underscore compliance department leadership. The company aims to use ESG metrics in employee performance and compensation goals by 2030.
In a bid to underpin shareholder value over the long term, industry players have prioritized a smooth corporate governance structure. Board of directors tend to focus on ESG issues, including employee safety, climate, cybersecurity, human capital management, financial, marketing and inclusion & diversity. In doing so, companies have also vouched for the independence of the BoD to bolster the ethos of the decision-making right and explore new avenues of growth engines to boost corporate growth. To illustrate, the ESG committee at LG Electronics comprised four independent directors to supervise risk response pertaining to ESG and explore sustainable and long-term growth.
The competitive landscape has witnessed a paradigm shift as organizations vie to achieve the company’s vision of customer satisfaction and underpin ESG frameworks. With companies emphasizing environmentally friendly and solution-oriented kitchen products, boosting ESG goals could nurture a sustainable future. The global kitchenware market is poised to register around 5% CAGR through 2025, largely due to the influx of funds into sustainable products and solutions.
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