Industry Comparison

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Current language: English (2023)

You are viewing information about the following Industries:

  • Tobacco The Tobacco industry is comprised of entities that manufacture tobacco products including cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco products. Many large tobacco entities operate globally. Entities may obtain or sell exclusive rights to sell certain brands of cigarettes in diverse markets. Most tobacco is grown by independent tobacco farmers, who typically sell their crops to tobacco merchants or to manufacturers under contract.
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  • Marine Transportation Marine Transportation industry entities provide deep-sea, coastal or river-way freight shipping services. The industry is of strategic importance to international trade, and its revenues are tied to macroeconomic cycles. Important activities include transportation of containerised and bulk freight, including consumer goods and a wide range of commodities, and transportation of chemicals and petroleum products in tankers. Because of the industry's global scope, entities may operate under many diverse applicable jurisdictional legal and regulatory frameworks.
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Relevant Issues for both Industries (8 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.
  • Tobacco 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.
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    • 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.
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    • Customer Welfare The category addresses customer welfare concerns over issues including, but not limited to, health and nutrition of foods and beverages, antibiotic use in animal production, and management of controlled substances. The category addresses the company’s ability to provide consumers with manufactured products and services that are aligned with societal expectations. It does not include issues directly related to quality and safety malfunctions of manufactured products and services, but instead addresses qualities inherent to the design and delivery of products and services where customer welfare may be in question. The scope of the category also captures companies’ ability to prevent counterfeit products.
      • Public Health Tobacco use can create serious health risks as established by many scientific studies over the past several decades. Health problems associated with tobacco include lung disease, cancer and heart disease. Tobacco product manufacturers have faced lawsuits from individuals, governments, corporations and other groups. In some cases, these lawsuits resulted in significant settlements. A growing public awareness of the associated health risks has driven down tobacco use dramatically in many countries. Tobacco product manufacturers are introducing an array of ‘harm reduction’ products, such as non-tobacco nicotine products and heated tobacco products, seeking to minimise the health impacts of tobacco use while accessing new markets. Scientific studies questioning these assertions of harm reduction may emerge, with continuing effects on entity revenue and growth potential.
    • Selling Practices & Product Labeling The category addresses social issues that may arise from a failure to manage the transparency, accuracy, and comprehensibility of marketing statements, advertising, and labeling of products and services. It includes, but is not limited to, advertising standards and regulations, ethical and responsible marketing practices, misleading or deceptive labeling, as well as discriminatory or predatory selling and lending practices. This may include deceptive or aggressive selling practices in which incentive structures for employees could encourage the sale of products or services that are not in the best interest of customers or clients.
      • Marketing Practices Tobacco product labelling and marketing is regulated heavily internationally. The World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) has encouraged many countries to introduce new, stricter regulatory approaches to prevent people from using tobacco at an early age through transparent advertising about tobacco’s health risks. The industry has faced costly legal battles related to the marketing and advertising of its products. Marketing for combustible and new non-combustible products must balance regulatory requirements with the need to reach new markets. Failing to effectively manage negative social externalities may result in further unfavourable regulation and may impair the industry’s social licence to operate. Entities that effectively manage this issue may avoid extraordinary expenses, preserve market share and decrease contingent liabilities.
    • 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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    • Business Ethics The category addresses the company’s approach to managing risks and opportunities surrounding ethical conduct of business, including fraud, corruption, bribery and facilitation payments, fiduciary responsibilities, and other behaviour that may have an ethical component. This includes sensitivity to business norms and standards as they shift over time, jurisdiction, and culture. It addresses the company’s ability to provide services that satisfy the highest professional and ethical standards of the industry, which means to avoid conflicts of interest, misrepresentation, bias, and negligence through training employees adequately and implementing policies and procedures to ensure employees provide services free from bias and error.
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    • 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.
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  • Marine Transportation 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 Marine transportation entities 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. The industry is among the most fuel efficient of the major transportation modes in terms of fuel use per tonne shipped. However, because of the industry’s size, its contribution to the global GHG emissions is still significant. Recent environmental regulations are encouraging the adoption of more fuel-efficient engines 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.
    • 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 Air pollutants such as sulphur oxides (SO?), nitrogen oxides (NO?) and particulate matter (PM10) are significant environmental externalities from the use of fossil fuels by marine shipping entities. These pollutants tend to have localised environmental and health impacts and are especially a concern at port cities. Air pollution regulations are encouraging the adoption of more fuel-efficient engines and the use of cleaner-burning fuels as entities seek to reduce exposure to fines and environmental remediation costs. A further fuel efficiency incentive is that fuel constitutes a major expense for the industry, so capital expenditures to upgrade vessels may be offset over the long term from fuel costs savings.
    • 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.
      • Ecological Impacts The operations and waste disposal practices of marine transportation entities may create substantial environmental externalities, such as water pollution and damage to marine life. Seagoing vessels routinely discharge ballast water, bilge water and untreated sewage. Compliance with international regulations intended to manage the ecological impacts of operation may require significant capital expenditures to upgrade or instal waste management systems. Illegal bilge water dumping and other unregulated discharges may result in hefty fines, negatively affecting an entity’s risk profile. Operating in areas of protected conservation status, such as Emission Control Areas (ECAs) and Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs), may increase the risk of ecological impacts as well as the risk of violating environmental regulations.
    • Customer Welfare The category addresses customer welfare concerns over issues including, but not limited to, health and nutrition of foods and beverages, antibiotic use in animal production, and management of controlled substances. The category addresses the company’s ability to provide consumers with manufactured products and services that are aligned with societal expectations. It does not include issues directly related to quality and safety malfunctions of manufactured products and services, but instead addresses qualities inherent to the design and delivery of products and services where customer welfare may be in question. The scope of the category also captures companies’ ability to prevent counterfeit products.
      None
    • Selling Practices & Product Labeling The category addresses social issues that may arise from a failure to manage the transparency, accuracy, and comprehensibility of marketing statements, advertising, and labeling of products and services. It includes, but is not limited to, advertising standards and regulations, ethical and responsible marketing practices, misleading or deceptive labeling, as well as discriminatory or predatory selling and lending practices. This may include deceptive or aggressive selling practices in which incentive structures for employees could encourage the sale of products or services that are not in the best interest of customers or clients.
      None
    • 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 Marine transportation workers face dangers such as hazardous weather and exposure to large machinery and heavy cargo. The greatest health and safety risks occur during loading and unloading cargo at ports. Ships must be loaded and unloaded quickly and on schedule, increasing injury risk, fatigue and stress. The health and well-being of workers in the industry also is linked inextricably to entity safety performance since a healthy crew is necessary for safe voyages. Entities with inadequate safety management systems that fail to ensure crew health and safety may witness increased employee turnover and worker-related expenses, including medical expenses such as insurance premiums and worker pay-outs.
    • Business Ethics The category addresses the company’s approach to managing risks and opportunities surrounding ethical conduct of business, including fraud, corruption, bribery and facilitation payments, fiduciary responsibilities, and other behaviour that may have an ethical component. This includes sensitivity to business norms and standards as they shift over time, jurisdiction, and culture. It addresses the company’s ability to provide services that satisfy the highest professional and ethical standards of the industry, which means to avoid conflicts of interest, misrepresentation, bias, and negligence through training employees adequately and implementing policies and procedures to ensure employees provide services free from bias and error.
      • Business Ethics Port facilitation payments are considered standard business practice in some countries to obtain permits, cargo clearance and port berths. However, anti-bribery laws place pressure on marine transportation entities to alter this practice. Enforcement of these laws may result in significant one-time costs and higher compliance costs and increased cost of capital, or affect an entity’s social licence to operate. Entity governance must monitor for and prevent corruption, participation—whether wilful or unintentional—in illegal or unethical payments, or the exertion of unfair influence. Operating in corruption-prone countries may exacerbate these risks.
    • 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 & Safety Management Accidents or leaks involving large vessels can have significant impacts on life, property and the environment. Negative media attention and significant clean-up costs may impair an entity’s finances. To reduce the risk of accidents, entities conduct extensive safety measures, such as employee training programmes, periodic dry-docking maintenance periods and annual class-renewal surveys conducted by classification societies. The global marketplace’s reliance on the shipping industry means that voyages must be made within precise timeframes, providing further accident prevention incentives.

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Tobacco
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Marine Transportation
Food & Beverage
Transportation
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