Industry Comparison

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Current language: English (2023)

You are viewing information about the following Industries:

  • Security & Commodity Exchanges Security and commodity exchanges operate marketplaces in the form of physical trading floors or electronic platforms for trading financial securities, commodities, or other financial instruments. Entities in the industry primarily generate revenue from fees on trades and for clearing transactions as well as listing fees. Competition for fees continues to increase with the advent of alternative trading platforms that offer less expensive trades and provide listing services. Recent trends in the regulatory environment suggest a greater focus on transparency, risk management, and market stability. As new policies and market transformations encourage more responsible management of social capital and strong governance, firms that can address all forms of capital—not just financial—will be better positioned to protect shareholder value in the future.
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  • Apparel, Accessories & Footwear The Apparel, Accessories & Footwear industry includes entities involved in the design, manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing of various products, including adult and children’s clothing, handbags, jewellery, watches and footwear. Products are manufactured primarily by vendors in emerging markets, thereby allowing entities in the industry to focus on design, wholesaling, marketing, supply chain management and retail activities.
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Relevant Issues for both Industries (6 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.
  • Security & Commodity Exchanges Remove
    Access Standard
    • 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.
      None
    • 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.
      • Promoting Transparent & Efficient Capital Markets Security and commodity exchanges have a responsibility to ensure equal access to capital markets for all investors. As public markets, these entities help ensure efficient capital allocation and equal application of rules for all participants. Entities must also manage the release of public data to prevent information asymmetries. The advent of new technologies such as high-frequency trading may give some traders an advantage at the expense of others. Information asymmetries allowing for unfair arbitrage may result in litigation, regulatory penalties, additional regulatory oversight and increased compliance costs, as well as reputational damage that may reduce trading volumes and associated revenues. Disclosure of policies relating to information releases, trading halts and the risks and opportunities associated with algorithmic or high-frequency trading may permit investors to understand more clearly how security and commodity exchanges protect shareholder value.
    • 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
    • Materials Sourcing & Efficiency The category addresses issues related to the resilience of materials supply chains to impacts of climate change and other external environmental and social factors. It captures the impacts of such external factors on operational activity of suppliers, which can further affect availability and pricing of key resources. It addresses a company’s ability to manage these risks through product design, manufacturing, and end-of-life management, such as by using of recycled and renewable materials, reducing the use of key materials (dematerialization), maximizing resource efficiency in manufacturing, and making R&D investments in substitute materials. Additionally, companies can manage these issues by screening, selection, monitoring, and engagement with suppliers to ensure their resilience to external risks. It does not address issues associated with environmental and social externalities created by operational activity of individual suppliers, which is covered in a separate category.
      None
    • 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.
      • Managing Conflicts of Interest Security and commodity exchanges are responsible for the oversight of member entities. Specifically, entities in this industry monitor membership information and regulatory compliance to ensure market integrity and transparency. Controversies relating to market manipulation, tax fraud, investor protection rules and anti-competitive behaviour have raised concern about conflicts of interest that arise because of security and commodity exchanges’ position as self-regulatory organisations (SROs). Rapid innovation in financial markets provides significant opportunities to enhance profitability. However, exchanges must continue to fulfil their responsibilities as SROs to ensure open and fair access to all investors, to publish rules and fees, and to oversee trading. Entities that effectively discourage fraudulent or unethical activities may preserve market integrity, limit reputational damage and ensure long-term sustainable growth.
    • Systemic Risk Management The category addresses the company’s contributions to or management of systemic risks resulting from large-scale weakening or collapse of systems upon which the economy and society depend. This includes financial systems, natural resource systems, and technological systems. It addresses the mechanisms a company has in place to reduce its contributions to systemic risks and to improve safeguards that may mitigate the impacts of systemic failure. For financial institutions, the category also captures the company’s ability to absorb shocks arising from financial and economic stress and meet stricter regulatory requirements related to the complexity and interconnectedness of companies in the industry.
      • Managing Business Continuity & Technology Risks Security and commodity exchanges face increased risks and opportunities associated with information technology. The industry’s integral position in the proper functioning of financial markets requires that exchanges manage security breaches and technology errors to prevent market disruptions. Because security and commodity exchanges face increased volumes of trading associated with the clearing and execution of derivative trades and increased frequency of cyber-attacks, the industry may be exposed to new risks and opportunities associated with its reliance on information technology. Failure to ensure trading continuity may erode customer trust and result in reduced trading volumes and loss of revenue. Increased disclosure of efforts taken to prevent these risks may allow shareholders to assess the entity’s value more accurately than they could otherwise.
  • Apparel, Accessories & Footwear Remove
    Access Standard
    • 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 Chemical safety regulations demonstrate regulatory and stakeholder concern surrounding the use of harmful or potentially harmful substances in consumer products, including apparel, accessories and footwear. Finished apparel and footwear products have been found to contain traces of chemicals that have been banned or regulated. Depending on the chemical, the amount present in a product and the type of exposure, specific substances can be carcinogenic and can disrupt hormone activity in humans and other organisms. Failure to manage this issue may generate increased regulatory oversight and affect an entity’s social licence to operate. The presence of harmful chemicals in products can result in recalls, litigation and reputational damage. Entities in this industry can examine the design, manufacturing and end-of-life phases to manage the creation, use and disposal of products containing chemicals of concern, develop safe alternatives and eliminate banned chemicals. Given the industry’s reliance on outsourced manufacturing, this involves proactive partnerships with suppliers. In managing this issue, entities must balance the hazards posed by some chemicals against the quality of a product and its costs of production.
    • 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.
      • Environmental Impacts in the Supply Chain The Apparel, Accessories & Footwear industry’s global supply chain contributes significantly to adverse environmental externalities through water consumption and various forms of pollution. Water pollution results from the discharge of chemicals during water-intensive dyeing and tanning processes. Air pollution stems from the industry’s energy use and some manufacturing processes. These impacts have the potential to damage an entity’s reputation and to affect cost structures over time. The scale of this issue has been intensified historically by the industry relying on manufacturing partners in emerging markets with limited environmental regulations and oversight. However, enhanced stakeholder and consumer scrutiny, coupled with increasingly stringent regulation in some regions, has encouraged entities throughout the industry to work with suppliers to reduce their environmental impact. Apparel, Accessories & Footwear entities that leverage their market power to influence suppliers to improve operational efficiencies and resource consumption and limit pollution can mitigate the costs associated with increased resource scarcity and regulation. Further, those that engage with suppliers through monitoring, auditing and strict standards may better preserve shareholder value over the long term.
      • Labour Conditions in the Supply Chain The treatment of workers and the protection of worker rights in the Apparel, Accessories & Footwear industry’s supply chain is of growing concern among consumers, regulators and leading entities. Critical aspects of this issue include employee health and safety, fair pay, child labour and forced labour. Although many entities strive to improve supply chain labour conditions, the industry’s reliance on a multitiered system of suppliers, subcontractors, labour recruitment firms and part-time workers makes these issues difficult to manage. Because entities in the industry typically contract with suppliers in countries with the lowest direct costs, the industry’s products often are manufactured in countries with limited regulations or enforcement protecting workers. This dynamic can increase an entity’s exposure to reputational risks. Effects on short- and long-term costs and sales can arise from increasing regulation and enforcement in response to high-profile safety or labour incidents, production disruptions because of strikes and other labour-related work stoppages, or through a shift in demand away from entities associated with such incidents. Entities with strong supply chain standards, monitoring and engagement with suppliers to address labour concerns may better preserve shareholder value over the long term.
    • Materials Sourcing & Efficiency The category addresses issues related to the resilience of materials supply chains to impacts of climate change and other external environmental and social factors. It captures the impacts of such external factors on operational activity of suppliers, which can further affect availability and pricing of key resources. It addresses a company’s ability to manage these risks through product design, manufacturing, and end-of-life management, such as by using of recycled and renewable materials, reducing the use of key materials (dematerialization), maximizing resource efficiency in manufacturing, and making R&D investments in substitute materials. Additionally, companies can manage these issues by screening, selection, monitoring, and engagement with suppliers to ensure their resilience to external risks. It does not address issues associated with environmental and social externalities created by operational activity of individual suppliers, which is covered in a separate category.
      • Raw Materials Sourcing The Apparel, Accessories & Footwear industry relies on many raw materials including cotton, leather, wool, rubber, and precious minerals and metals, as inputs for finished products. Sustainability impacts related to climate change, land use, resource scarcity and conflict in regions where the industry’s supply chain operates affect the industry’s ability to reliably source materials. The ability of entities to manage potential material shortages, supply disruptions, price volatility and reputational risks can be more difficult when supply chains lack transparency. Failure to effectively manage this issue can delay shipments and depress earnings, reduce margins, constrain revenue growth or increase costs of capital. The types of risk associated with sourcing different materials can require different solutions, including engaging with suppliers, enhancing transparency by using certification standards, using innovative alternative materials, or introducing circular economy practices. Entities that are proactive may reduce their exposure to price volatility and potential supply disruptions, while improving their brand reputation and developing new market opportunities.
    • 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.
      None
    • Systemic Risk Management The category addresses the company’s contributions to or management of systemic risks resulting from large-scale weakening or collapse of systems upon which the economy and society depend. This includes financial systems, natural resource systems, and technological systems. It addresses the mechanisms a company has in place to reduce its contributions to systemic risks and to improve safeguards that may mitigate the impacts of systemic failure. For financial institutions, the category also captures the company’s ability to absorb shocks arising from financial and economic stress and meet stricter regulatory requirements related to the complexity and interconnectedness of companies in the industry.
      None

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Current Industries:
Security & Commodity Exchanges
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Apparel, Accessories & Footwear
Consumer Goods
Financials
Extractives & Minerals Processing
Food & Beverage
Health Care
Infrastructure
Renewable Resources & Alternative Energy
Resource Transformation
Services
Technology & Communications
Transportation