Industry Comparison

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Current language: English (2023)

You are viewing information about the following Industries:

  • Building Products & Furnishings Entities in the Building Products & Furnishings industry design and manufacture home improvement products, home and office furnishings, and structural wood building materials. The industry’s products include flooring, ceiling tiles, home and office furniture and fixtures, wood trusses, plywood, panelling and lumber. Entities typically sell their products through distribution channels to retail stores or through independent or entity-owned dealerships.
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  • Cruise Lines Cruise Lines industry entities provide passenger transportation and leisure entertainment, including deep sea cruises and river cruises. A few large entities dominate the industry. Cruises provide a luxury resort experience for thousands of passengers at a time. The Cruise Lines industry often has been the fastest-growing segment of the travel industry, but it is very cyclical.
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Relevant Issues for both Industries (10 of 26)

Why are some issues greyed out? The SASB Standards vary by industry based on the different sustainability-related risks and opportunities within an industry. The issues in grey were not identified during the standard-setting process as the most likely to be useful to investors, so they are not included in the Standard. Over time, as the ISSB continues to receive market feedback, some issues may be added or removed from the Standard. Each company determines which sustainability-related risks and opportunities are relevant to its business. The Standard is designed for the typical company in an industry, but individual companies may choose to report on different sustainability-related risks and opportunities based on their unique business model.

Disclosure Topics

What is the relationship between General Issue Category and Disclosure Topics? The General Issue Category is an industry-agnostic version of the Disclosure Topics that appear in each SASB Standard. Disclosure topics represent the industry-specific impacts of General Issue Categories. The industry-specific Disclosure Topics ensure each SASB Standard is tailored to the industry, while the General Issue Categories enable comparability across industries. For example, Health & Nutrition is a disclosure topic in the Non-Alcoholic Beverages industry, representing an industry-specific measure of the general issue of Customer Welfare. The issue of Customer Welfare, however, manifests as the Counterfeit Drugs disclosure topic in the Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals industry.
  • Building Products & Furnishings Remove
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    • GHG Emissions The category addresses direct (Scope 1) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that a company generates through its operations. This includes GHG emissions from stationary (e.g., factories, power plants) and mobile sources (e.g., trucks, delivery vehicles, planes), whether a result of combustion of fuel or non-combusted direct releases during activities such as natural resource extraction, power generation, land use, or biogenic processes. The category further includes management of regulatory risks, environmental compliance, and reputational risks and opportunities, as they related to direct GHG emissions. The seven GHGs covered under the Kyoto Protocol are included within the category—carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).
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    • Air Quality The category addresses management of air quality impacts resulting from stationary (e.g., factories, power plants) and mobile sources (e.g., trucks, delivery vehicles, planes) as well as industrial emissions. Relevant airborne pollutants include, but are not limited to, oxides of nitrogen (NOx), oxides of sulfur (SOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), heavy metals, particulate matter, and chlorofluorocarbons. The category does not include GHG emissions, which are addressed in a separate category.
      None
    • Energy Management The category addresses environmental impacts associated with energy consumption. It addresses the company’s management of energy in manufacturing and/or for provision of products and services derived from utility providers (grid energy) not owned or controlled by the company. More specifically, it includes management of energy efficiency and intensity, energy mix, as well as grid reliance. Upstream (e.g., suppliers) and downstream (e.g., product use) energy use is not included in the scope.
      • Energy Management in Manufacturing The Building Products & Furnishings industry creates value through energy-intensive manufacturing processes. Purchased electricity represents the largest share of energy consumption across the industry, while entities also may use fossil fuel energy on-site. The price of conventional grid electricity and volatility of fossil fuel prices may increase because of evolving climate change regulations and new incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy, among other factors, while alternative energy sources become more cost-competitive. Decisions regarding energy sourcing and type, as well as the use of alternative energy, can create trade-offs related to the energy supply’s cost and reliability for operations. Since the industry operates on relatively narrow profit margins, reductions in energy consumption may have a significant influence on financial performance. The way an entity manages energy efficiency, its reliance on different types of energy and their associated sustainability risks, and access alternative energy sources are likely to impact financial performance.
    • Ecological Impacts The category addresses management of the company’s impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity through activities including, but not limited to, land use for exploration, natural resource extraction, and cultivation, as well as project development, construction, and siting. The impacts include, but are not limited to, biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, and deforestation at all stages – planning, land acquisition, permitting, development, operations, and site remediation. The category does not cover impacts of climate change on ecosystems and biodiversity.
      None
    • Product Quality & Safety The category addresses issues involving unintended characteristics of products sold or services provided that may create health or safety risks to end-users. It addresses a company’s ability to offer manufactured products and/or services that meet customer expectations with respect to their health and safety characteristics. It includes, but is not limited to, issues involving liability, management of recalls and market withdrawals, product testing, and chemicals/content/ingredient management in products.
      • Management of Chemicals in Products The Building Products & Furnishings industry’s products can contain substances that may harm human health, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and potential reproductive toxins, carcinogens and endocrine disruptors. In general, products contain these substances at low concentrations, if at all, and therefore are not expected to pose a health concern. Nonetheless, entities may be exposed to potentially significant regulatory and reputational risk associated with the use of substances of concern. Actual or perceived human health risks create the potential for future regulation of product chemical content and possible reputational consequences for entities, which can significantly affect demand for products. The industry has engaged in voluntary efforts to eliminate such potentially harmful chemicals from products and use alternative materials. The adoption of building certification standards, such as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building rating system, has stimulated demand for products with reduced harmful chemical content. Entities that effectively manage harmful chemicals in their products may cultivate a long-term competitive advantage by increasing demand, reducing regulatory risk and improving brand value.
    • Labour Practices The category addresses the company’s ability to uphold commonly accepted labour standards in the workplace, including compliance with labour laws and internationally accepted norms and standards. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring basic human rights related to child labour, forced or bonded labour, exploitative labour, fair wages and overtime pay, and other basic workers’ rights. It also includes minimum wage policies and provision of benefits, which may influence how a workforce is attracted, retained, and motivated. The category further addresses a company’s relationship with organized labour and freedom of association.
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    • Employee Health & Safety The category addresses a company’s ability to create and maintain a safe and healthy workplace environment that is free of injuries, fatalities, and illness (both chronic and acute). It is traditionally accomplished through implementing safety management plans, developing training requirements for employees and contractors, and conducting regular audits of their own practices as well as those of their subcontractors. The category further captures how companies ensure physical and mental health of workforce through technology, training, corporate culture, regulatory compliance, monitoring and testing, and personal protective equipment.
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    • Product Design & Lifecycle Management The category addresses incorporation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in characteristics of products and services provided or sold by the company. It includes, but is not limited to, managing the lifecycle impacts of products and services, such as those related to packaging, distribution, use-phase resource intensity, and other environmental and social externalities that may occur during their use-phase or at the end of life. The category captures a company’s ability to address customer and societal demand for more sustainable products and services as well as to meet evolving environmental and social regulation. It does not address direct environmental or social impacts of the company’s operations nor does it address health and safety risks to consumers from product use, which are covered in other categories.
      • Product Lifecycle Environmental Impacts Depending on the specific building product or furnishing, significant environmental impacts can arise during raw material sourcing, transportation, manufacturing, use-phase or end-of-life. Increasing consumer and regulatory preference for less impactful products has spawned the development of more sustainable products, broadly termed ‘green building materials’. In addition, product lifecycle certification has arisen as a tool for entities and their customers to assess and improve a product’s lifecycle impact. Certification programmes typically examine specific sustainability characteristics of a product category and include the use of closed-loop materials that minimise a product’s end-of-life environmental impacts and reduce the need for extracting or producing virgin materials. Through product innovation and design that facilitates end-of-life product recovery and the use of less impactful materials, the adoption of product certification programmes, and partnerships with customers, manufacturers of building products can improve lifecycle impacts, reduce regulatory risk, meet growing customer demand and realise cost savings.
    • Supply Chain Management The category addresses management of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks within a company’s supply chain. It addresses issues associated with environmental and social externalities created by suppliers through their operational activities. Such issues include, but are not limited to, environmental responsibility, human rights, labour practices, and ethics and corruption. Management may involve screening, selection, monitoring, and engagement with suppliers on their environmental and social impacts. The category does not address the impacts of external factors – such as climate change and other environmental and social factors – on suppliers’ operations and/or on the availability and pricing of key resources, which is covered in a separate category.
      • Wood Supply Chain Management The Building Products & Furnishings industry uses large amounts of wood sourced from forests worldwide. Unsustainable production and timber harvesting can result in adverse environmental and social impacts, including biodiversity loss and harm to the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities. Entities inadvertently may source wood from areas susceptible to unsustainable forestry practices. Reports of illegal logging, environmental pollution or adverse impacts on communities can result in reputational repercussions that can damage an entity’s brand value, affecting demand for their products. In addition, regulations banning the importation of illegally produced wood can result in supply constraints, penalties and further damage to brand value. To mitigate these risks, entities increasingly are adopting third-party certifications verifying wood is grown and harvested in a sustainable manner. Obtaining wood sourcing certifications also can provide entities with a potential growth channel because they can satisfy customer demand for certified products.
    • Critical Incident Risk Management The category addresses the company’s use of management systems and scenario planning to identify, understand, and prevent or minimize the occurrence of low-probability, high-impact accidents and emergencies with significant potential environmental and social externalities. It relates to the culture of safety at a company, its relevant safety management systems and technological controls, the potential human, environmental, and social implications of such events occurring, and the long-term effects to an organization, its workers, and society should these events occur.
      None
  • Cruise Lines Remove
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    • GHG Emissions The category addresses direct (Scope 1) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that a company generates through its operations. This includes GHG emissions from stationary (e.g., factories, power plants) and mobile sources (e.g., trucks, delivery vehicles, planes), whether a result of combustion of fuel or non-combusted direct releases during activities such as natural resource extraction, power generation, land use, or biogenic processes. The category further includes management of regulatory risks, environmental compliance, and reputational risks and opportunities, as they related to direct GHG emissions. The seven GHGs covered under the Kyoto Protocol are included within the category—carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).
      • Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cruise lines generate emissions mainly from the combustion of diesel in ship engines. The industry’s reliance on heavy fuel oil (‘bunker fuel’) is of material concern because of rising fuel costs and intensifying greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations. Evolving environmental regulations are encouraging the adoption of more fuel-efficient engines, engine retrofits and the use of cleaner-burning fuels. Fuel constitutes a major expense for industry players, providing a further incentive for investing in upgrades or retrofits to boost fuel efficiency. In addition, GHG regulation violations may result in fines and compliance costs.
    • Air Quality The category addresses management of air quality impacts resulting from stationary (e.g., factories, power plants) and mobile sources (e.g., trucks, delivery vehicles, planes) as well as industrial emissions. Relevant airborne pollutants include, but are not limited to, oxides of nitrogen (NOx), oxides of sulfur (SOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), heavy metals, particulate matter, and chlorofluorocarbons. The category does not include GHG emissions, which are addressed in a separate category.
      • Air Quality Fuel use on cruise lines generates air pollutants such as sulphur oxides (SO?), nitrogen oxides (NO?) and particulate matter (PM10). These pollutants can have localised environmental and health impacts and are of particular concern at port cities and other restricted areas where entities may be penalised for exceeding emissions limits. Entities can manage these risks by commissioning more energy-efficient vessels, retrofitting existing fleets and using onshore power if it is available at ports.
    • Energy Management The category addresses environmental impacts associated with energy consumption. It addresses the company’s management of energy in manufacturing and/or for provision of products and services derived from utility providers (grid energy) not owned or controlled by the company. More specifically, it includes management of energy efficiency and intensity, energy mix, as well as grid reliance. Upstream (e.g., suppliers) and downstream (e.g., product use) energy use is not included in the scope.
      None
    • Ecological Impacts The category addresses management of the company’s impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity through activities including, but not limited to, land use for exploration, natural resource extraction, and cultivation, as well as project development, construction, and siting. The impacts include, but are not limited to, biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, and deforestation at all stages – planning, land acquisition, permitting, development, operations, and site remediation. The category does not cover impacts of climate change on ecosystems and biodiversity.
      • Discharge Management & Ecological Impacts Cruise holidays offer access to undeveloped ocean waters and destinations with marine protected areas or areas with protected conservation status. Cruise ships, associated with large vessels, rapid influxes of tourists, intensive resource consumption and high waste generation, can be particularly damaging to ecosystems in which they travel and operate. Cruise ships discharge many types of treated and untreated wastewater at sea and non-degradable solid wastes on land. Careful management of ship discharge and the mitigation of cruise line ecological impacts may maintain shipping access to ports and preserve the natural beauty guests wish to experience, both of which are essential for entities to maintain market share as well as attract new customers.
    • Product Quality & Safety The category addresses issues involving unintended characteristics of products sold or services provided that may create health or safety risks to end-users. It addresses a company’s ability to offer manufactured products and/or services that meet customer expectations with respect to their health and safety characteristics. It includes, but is not limited to, issues involving liability, management of recalls and market withdrawals, product testing, and chemicals/content/ingredient management in products.
      • Customer Health & Safety Cruise lines offer a variety of luxury experiences and activities to their customers, including elabourate shows, casinos, fine dining, indoor skydiving, spa treatments, swimming and fitness facilities. Each activity comes with its own set of health risks, safety challenges and liabilities that entities must navigate. Consumer expectations for safety and comfort are high, so avoiding health and physical safety risks is especially important for entities’ viability. Publicised cases of crimes, injuries and illnesses onboard cruise ships may have serious repercussions on brand value and ticket sales. Customer lawsuits may also result in high incremental legal costs. Although cruise ship crime rates are low when compared to crime rates in most developed countries, law enforcement is much more difficult to navigate, and cases are not as easy to resolve since ships commonly take passengers to international waters and fly a foreign flag, leading to uncertainty about which jurisdictions are responsible for law enforcement. Entities can protect customer health and safety by implementing a robust safety management system.
    • Labour Practices The category addresses the company’s ability to uphold commonly accepted labour standards in the workplace, including compliance with labour laws and internationally accepted norms and standards. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring basic human rights related to child labour, forced or bonded labour, exploitative labour, fair wages and overtime pay, and other basic workers’ rights. It also includes minimum wage policies and provision of benefits, which may influence how a workforce is attracted, retained, and motivated. The category further addresses a company’s relationship with organized labour and freedom of association.
      • Labour Practices Cruise lines employ thousands of workers onboard each large vessel. Ships may register in countries where labour laws related to pay, working hours, fair treatment and termination may be flexible. Ship crews are multinational, and many are hired on a contract basis. Crews often work long hours for many months residing in shared quarters, which can make recuperation difficult. Some entities offer a gratuity-based wage structure to reduce payroll costs. Language barriers, the complexity of flag state laws and the laws in workers’ home countries may make labour law violation charges difficult for workers to file. Low morale among workers may impair their ability to meet customer service expectations, potentially reducing an entity’s revenues and market share over the long term.
    • Employee Health & Safety The category addresses a company’s ability to create and maintain a safe and healthy workplace environment that is free of injuries, fatalities, and illness (both chronic and acute). It is traditionally accomplished through implementing safety management plans, developing training requirements for employees and contractors, and conducting regular audits of their own practices as well as those of their subcontractors. The category further captures how companies ensure physical and mental health of workforce through technology, training, corporate culture, regulatory compliance, monitoring and testing, and personal protective equipment.
      • Workforce Health & Safety Entities in the Cruise Lines industry operate a unique service that requires them to provide safety oversight comparable to a small city, including addressing all medical and security needs. A commitment to providing a clean and sanitary environment on board is important for protecting crew health, which can affect productivity and morale as well as customer health, and thus an entity’s reputation and market share. Additionally, several governing bodies—including the flag state, port state and home country of a crew member—may be involved in both providing and enforcing industry safety regulations. This regulatory mix may create confusion regarding the protections afforded to crew members. Entities that fail to protect crew health and safety may also experience higher employee turnover and difficulties with employee recruitment and retention.
    • Product Design & Lifecycle Management The category addresses incorporation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in characteristics of products and services provided or sold by the company. It includes, but is not limited to, managing the lifecycle impacts of products and services, such as those related to packaging, distribution, use-phase resource intensity, and other environmental and social externalities that may occur during their use-phase or at the end of life. The category captures a company’s ability to address customer and societal demand for more sustainable products and services as well as to meet evolving environmental and social regulation. It does not address direct environmental or social impacts of the company’s operations nor does it address health and safety risks to consumers from product use, which are covered in other categories.
      None
    • Supply Chain Management The category addresses management of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks within a company’s supply chain. It addresses issues associated with environmental and social externalities created by suppliers through their operational activities. Such issues include, but are not limited to, environmental responsibility, human rights, labour practices, and ethics and corruption. Management may involve screening, selection, monitoring, and engagement with suppliers on their environmental and social impacts. The category does not address the impacts of external factors – such as climate change and other environmental and social factors – on suppliers’ operations and/or on the availability and pricing of key resources, which is covered in a separate category.
      None
    • Critical Incident Risk Management The category addresses the company’s use of management systems and scenario planning to identify, understand, and prevent or minimize the occurrence of low-probability, high-impact accidents and emergencies with significant potential environmental and social externalities. It relates to the culture of safety at a company, its relevant safety management systems and technological controls, the potential human, environmental, and social implications of such events occurring, and the long-term effects to an organization, its workers, and society should these events occur.
      • Accident Management Although cruise ships are one of the safest forms of travel for holidays, the industry competes on customer experience and satisfaction, making safety management a top priority. Given the scale of cruise vessels and the vulnerability of passengers at sea, one mismanaged accident may significantly reduce consumer confidence in an entity. Although major accidents are rare, they may affect not only an entity’s revenue and brand value, but those of the entire Cruise Lines industry. Proper equipment maintenance, staff training and implementation of the latest safety technologies and practices may protect an entity’s safety record and ensure high customer satisfaction while lowering an entity’s risk profile and cost of capital.

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