Industry Comparison

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Current language: English (2023)

You are viewing information about the following Industries:

  • Health Care Delivery The Health Care Delivery industry owns and manages hospitals, clinics and other health care related facilities. Entities provide a range of services, including inpatient and outpatient care, surgery, mental health, rehabilitation and clinical laboratory services. Demand for health care delivery services is driven largely by insurance coverage rates, demographics, illness and injury rates. The industry is characterised by high fixed labour and facilities costs, and an increased regulatory focus on reduced costs of care and improved outcomes. Health care delivery entities also face significant competition for patients and resources from private, non-profit and religious health care systems.
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  • Auto Parts Entities in the Auto Parts industry supply motor vehicle parts and accessories to original equipment manufacturers (OEM). Auto parts entities typically specialise in manufacturing and assembling parts or accessories, such as engine exhaust systems, alternative drivetrains, hybrid systems, catalytic converters, aluminium wheels (rims), tyres, rear-view mirrors, and onboard electrical and electronic equipment. Although the larger automotive industry includes several tiers of suppliers that provide parts and raw materials used to assemble motor vehicles, the scope of these Auto Parts industry disclosures includes only Tier 1 suppliers that supply parts directly to OEMs. The scope of the industry excludes captive suppliers, such as engine and stamping facilities, owned and operated by OEMs. It also excludes Tier 2 suppliers, which provide inputs for the Auto Parts industry.
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Relevant Issues for both Industries (14 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.
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    • 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 Health Care Delivery entities operate energy-intensive facilities and rely on both purchased electricity and fuel. The consumption of both can contribute to environmental impacts, including climate change and pollution. Legislative attempts to limit these impacts and to incentivise energy efficiency and renewable energy may result in price volatility associated with fossil fuels and conventional electricity. Entities that improve energy efficiency may decrease costs and limit exposure to energy price fluctuations.
    • Waste & Hazardous Materials Management The category addresses environmental issues associated with hazardous and non-hazardous waste generated by companies. It addresses a company’s management of solid wastes in manufacturing, agriculture, and other industrial processes. It covers treatment, handling, storage, disposal, and regulatory compliance. The category does not cover emissions to air or wastewater nor does it cover waste from end-of-life of products, which are addressed in separate categories.
      • Waste Management Health Care Delivery entities generate a significant amount of regulated medical and pharmaceutical waste. Disposal fees for these types of waste are typically higher than that of conventional waste and may present a significant cost for the industry. Entities that reduce the amount of waste generated by enhanced waste segregation strategies, recycling and reuse may limit their exposure to these costs.
    • Data Security The category addresses management of risks related to collection, retention, and use of sensitive, confidential, and/or proprietary customer or user data. It includes social issues that may arise from incidents such as data breaches in which personally identifiable information (PII) and other user or customer data may be exposed. It addresses a company’s strategy, policies, and practices related to IT infrastructure, staff training, record keeping, cooperation with law enforcement, and other mechanisms used to ensure security of customer or user data.
      • Patient Privacy & Electronic Health Records Many jurisdictions require health care providers to establish administrative, physical and technical safeguards to protect the integrity, confidentiality, interoperability and availability of patient health information. Failure to comply with such regulations may result in civil and criminal penalties.
    • Access & Affordability The category addresses a company’s ability to ensure broad access to its products and services, specifically in the context of underserved markets and/or population groups. It includes the management of issues related to universal needs, such as the accessibility and affordability of health care, financial services, utilities, education, and telecommunications.
      • Access for Low-Income Patients Some care delivery entities will continue to face challenges associated with serving uninsured and low-income patients. Health care delivery entities that develop innovative pricing structures that allow them to profit from increased private insurance enrolment and to expand their patient base may create a positive effect on revenue. Disclosure on how entities manage the provision of care to uninsured populations may allow users to understand the associated risks and opportunities.
    • 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.
      • Quality of Care & Patient Satisfaction Quality care delivery and patient satisfaction are essential value drivers for health care delivery entities. The link between quality of care performance and value creation may be strengthened by effective management focus on improving health care quality measures. In addition, entities may improve health care outcomes and preserve brand value by developing programmes to reduce excessive patient readmission rates and hospital-acquired conditions.
    • 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.
      • Management of Controlled Substances The Health Care Delivery industry is in a unique position with respect to the evolving use of controlled substances and managing the risk of addiction. As the provider of care, the industry also treats individuals suffering from addiction and related health concerns. Health Care Delivery entities face significant costs in addressing the health care needs of those suffering from addiction and related illnesses. Industry-wide efforts to re-evaluate controlled substance management strategies through the development of new policies, training and oversight may have positive financial effects.
    • 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.
      • Pricing & Billing Transparency Concern regarding pricing and billing transparency in the Health Care Delivery industry has resulted in increased legal and regulatory scrutiny in some jurisdictions. Coupled with increased attention to health care cost containment, this scrutiny may increase regulatory oversight of pricing and billing practices in this industry. Entities that achieve compliance and institute transparent pricing structures may better protect shareholder value.
    • 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 The Health Care Delivery industry is heavily dependent on a skilled workforce, and employees routinely are exposed to injury, illness and infection during regular duties. Relative to other industries, Health Care Delivery has one of the highest rates of injury and illness. Entities that manage this issue more effectively may reduce costs associated with workers’ compensation, productivity, morale and employee retention. Entities often mitigate risks by implementing proactive health and safety management protocols, developing employee training requirements, and conducting regular audits of their own safety practices.
    • Employee Engagement, Diversity & Inclusion The category addresses a company’s ability to ensure that its culture and hiring and promotion practices embrace the building of a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects the makeup of local talent pools and its customer base. It addresses the issues of discriminatory practices on the bases of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and other factors.
      • Employee Recruitment, Development & Retention Health care delivery entities will continue to face increased competition for physicians because of increased demand, which is intensified by current and future shortages. The ability to recruit, develop and retain health care practitioners is critical to success in this industry, and disclosure on related performance indicators allows users to understand how entities are managing this important human capital issue.
    • 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.
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    • 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.
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    • Physical Impacts of Climate Change The category addresses the company’s ability to manage risks and opportunities associated with direct exposure of its owned or controlled assets and operations to actual or potential physical impacts of climate change. It captures environmental and social issues that may arise from operational disruptions due to physical impacts of climate change. It further captures socio-economic issues resulting from companies failing to incorporate climate change consideration in products and services sold, such as insurance policies and mortgages. The category relates to the company’s ability to adapt to increased frequency and severity of extreme weather, shifting climate, sea level risk, and other expected physical impacts of climate change. Management may involve enhancing resiliency of physical assets and/or surrounding infrastructure as well as incorporation of climate change-related considerations into key business activities (e.g., mortgage and insurance underwriting, planning and development of real estate projects).
      • Climate Change Impacts on Human Health & Infrastructure An increase in extreme weather events associated with climate change may present physical threats to health care delivery facilities and create challenges in serving affected populations. Coupled with the potential spread of infectious diseases and food and water scarcity, these events may present material implications for the Health Care Delivery industry.
    • 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.
      • Fraud & Unnecessary Procedures Health care delivery entities may be subject to significant fines and penalties if their staff are found to be engaged in medical fraud. Many entities must have written policies for all employees and contractors regarding false claims, false statements and whistle-blower protections. The ability to ensure compliance in this area may have implications for health care delivery entities, including one-time charges and reputational damage.
    • Competitive Behaviour The category covers social issues associated with existence of monopolies, which may include, but are not limited to, excessive prices, poor quality of service, and inefficiencies. It addresses a company’s management of legal and social expectation around monopolistic and anti-competitive practices, including issues related to bargaining power, collusion, price fixing or manipulation, and protection of patents and intellectual property (IP).
      None
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    • 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 Most energy consumed in the automobile manufacturing process occurs in the supply chain. Auto parts manufacturers use electricity and fossil fuels in their production processes, resulting in direct and indirect emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Purchased electricity is a majority of the energy used in the Auto Parts industry. Sustainability initiatives such as incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy are making alternative sources of energy more cost competitive. Regulators and consumers also are encouraging the industry to reduce GHG emissions. While managing the cost and risks associated with overall energy efficiency, reliance on various types of energy and access to alternative energy sources may become increasingly important.
    • Waste & Hazardous Materials Management The category addresses environmental issues associated with hazardous and non-hazardous waste generated by companies. It addresses a company’s management of solid wastes in manufacturing, agriculture, and other industrial processes. It covers treatment, handling, storage, disposal, and regulatory compliance. The category does not cover emissions to air or wastewater nor does it cover waste from end-of-life of products, which are addressed in separate categories.
      • Waste Management Manufacturing auto parts involves using significant amounts of materials (including steel, iron, aluminium and plastics, among others). Waste generated by the industry includes machine lubricants and coolants, aqueous and solvent cleaning systems, paint, and scrap metals and plastics. Auto parts manufacturers spend a significant proportion of revenue on the cost of materials. Therefore, entities that manage manufacturing inputs properly by reducing and recycling waste may mitigate price volatility and supply disruption risks. Moreover, auto parts manufacturers may achieve cost savings and improve operational efficiency by increasing the proportion of waste recycled. Equally, auto parts manufacturers whose waste management practices create negative environmental impacts may face increased regulatory oversight. Violating environmental regulations may increase legal expenses as well as capital expenditures for pollution-control facilities and occupational health and safety projects.
    • Data Security The category addresses management of risks related to collection, retention, and use of sensitive, confidential, and/or proprietary customer or user data. It includes social issues that may arise from incidents such as data breaches in which personally identifiable information (PII) and other user or customer data may be exposed. It addresses a company’s strategy, policies, and practices related to IT infrastructure, staff training, record keeping, cooperation with law enforcement, and other mechanisms used to ensure security of customer or user data.
      None
    • Access & Affordability The category addresses a company’s ability to ensure broad access to its products and services, specifically in the context of underserved markets and/or population groups. It includes the management of issues related to universal needs, such as the accessibility and affordability of health care, financial services, utilities, education, and telecommunications.
      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.
      • Product Safety Driving is a risky activity, since distracted driving, speeding, drunk driving, dangerous weather conditions and other factors may result in accidents that expose drivers, passengers and bystanders to injuries and deaths. Accidents can also be caused by defective vehicle parts, and an entity’s failure to detect defects before vehicles are sold may have significant financial repercussions for both automobile and auto parts manufacturers. Entities improving vehicle safety and responding quickly when defects are identified may mitigate potentially costly regulatory action or customer lawsuits. These efforts may preserve relationships with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), who often select Tier 1 suppliers based on their safety performance and reliability. As cars integrate more sophisticated electronics and technologies, risks related to recalls may increase. Through effective management of product safety, entities may enhance their brand value and improve sales over the long term.
    • 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.
      None
    • Employee Engagement, Diversity & Inclusion The category addresses a company’s ability to ensure that its culture and hiring and promotion practices embrace the building of a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects the makeup of local talent pools and its customer base. It addresses the issues of discriminatory practices on the bases of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and other factors.
      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.
      • Design for Fuel Efficiency Automobile manufacturers increasingly are demanding motor parts and components that reduce vehicle fuel consumption. Fuel-efficient components and parts are critical in reducing automobile tailpipe emissions through energy efficiency gains and weight reductions, among other factors. Auto parts entities that design and manufacture such parts may increase sales to auto manufacturers that increasingly are facing stricter environmental regulations and customer preferences for more environmentally friendly cars.
    • 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.
      • Materials Sourcing Entities in the Auto Parts industry commonly rely on rare earth metals and other critical materials as important inputs for finished products. Many of these inputs have few substitutes and often are sourced from a few countries, many of which may be subject to geopolitical uncertainty. Other sustainability-related impacts such as climate change, land use, resource scarcity and conflict in regions where the industry’s supply chain operates are also increasingly shaping the industry’s ability to source materials. Additionally, increased competition for these materials because of growing global demand from other sectors may result in price increases and supply risks. These materials play a crucial role in clean energy technologies, such as electric and hybrid vehicles. As regulators strive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and consumers demand more fuel-efficient vehicles, the share of hybrids and zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) produced by the Automobiles industry may continue to increase in the future. Entities that limit the use of critical materials, secure sourcing and develop alternatives may mitigate supply disruptions and volatile input prices, which could adversely affect their margins, risk profile and cost of capital.
      • Materials Efficiency Millions of vehicles worldwide reach the end of their useful lives every year. At the same time, the rate of vehicle ownership is expanding globally, resulting in more end-of-life vehicles. To reduce vehicle lifecycle impact, auto parts manufacturers may design parts to be more easily recyclable and reusable, and apply modularity principles to product design. They also may sponsor take-back programmes to ensure safe product disposal and reuse. Given input price volatility and resource constraints, entities that manage materials efficiency may improve their long-term operational efficiency and risk profile. In addition, entities may reduce manufacturing costs by using fewer materials or by recycling materials, which may improve their margins.
    • Physical Impacts of Climate Change The category addresses the company’s ability to manage risks and opportunities associated with direct exposure of its owned or controlled assets and operations to actual or potential physical impacts of climate change. It captures environmental and social issues that may arise from operational disruptions due to physical impacts of climate change. It further captures socio-economic issues resulting from companies failing to incorporate climate change consideration in products and services sold, such as insurance policies and mortgages. The category relates to the company’s ability to adapt to increased frequency and severity of extreme weather, shifting climate, sea level risk, and other expected physical impacts of climate change. Management may involve enhancing resiliency of physical assets and/or surrounding infrastructure as well as incorporation of climate change-related considerations into key business activities (e.g., mortgage and insurance underwriting, planning and development of real estate projects).
      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.
      None
    • Competitive Behaviour The category covers social issues associated with existence of monopolies, which may include, but are not limited to, excessive prices, poor quality of service, and inefficiencies. It addresses a company’s management of legal and social expectation around monopolistic and anti-competitive practices, including issues related to bargaining power, collusion, price fixing or manipulation, and protection of patents and intellectual property (IP).
      • Competitive Behaviour Competitive business practices are an important governance issue for entities in the Auto Parts industry. Although industry concentration is low, a wide range of auto parts are available, and competition for business within each category of parts may be limited. Therefore, leading producers of any specific auto part may wield substantial market power in specific market segments, creating antitrust concerns. Collusion and price fixing by auto parts manufacturers may ultimately affect consumers through higher vehicle prices. If such activities are discovered, jurisdictions may impose legal or regulatory penalties, and the resulting reputational damage may adversely affect an entity’s valuation.

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