Industry Comparison

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Current language: English (2023)

You are viewing information about the following Industries:

  • Air Freight & Logistics Air Freight & Logistics industry entities provide freight services and transportation logistics to both businesses and individuals. The industry consists of three main segments: air freight transportation, post and courier services, and transportation logistics services. Entities in the industry earn revenue from one or more of the segments and range from non-asset-based to asset-heavy. Transportation logistics services include contracting with road, rail, marine and air freight entities to select and hire appropriate transportation. Services also may include customs brokerage, distribution management, vendor consolidation, cargo insurance, purchase order management and customised logistics information. The industry is crucial to global trade, granting it a degree of demand stability.
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  • Real Estate Real Estate industry entities own, develop and operate income-producing real estate assets. Entities in this industry commonly are structured as real estate investment trusts (REITs) and operate in a wide range of real estate industry segments, including residential, retail, office, health care, industrial and hotel properties. REITs typically participate in direct real estate asset ownership, thereby providing investors with the opportunity to obtain real estate exposure without direct asset ownership and management. Although REITs often concentrate on individual Real Estate industry segments, many REITs diversify investments across multiple property types.
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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.
  • Air Freight & Logistics 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 Air Freight & Logistics industry entities generate direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to climate change. Emissions are generated from fuel combustion by both air and road freight operations. Given the altitude of the emissions from jet fuel, air freight makes an especially potent contribution to climate change. Management of GHG emissions is likely to affect air freight and logistics entities’ cost structure over time because emissions are tied directly to fuel use, and thus to operating expenses. Fuel efficiency and alternative fuels usage may reduce fuel costs or limit exposure to volatile fuel pricing, future regulatory costs and other consequences of GHG emissions. While newer aircraft and trucks are generally more fuel efficient, existing fleets may be retrofitted. Capital investments in more fuel-efficient aeroplanes or vehicles and emerging fuel-management technology may reduce fuel expenses and improve profitability. These investments also may help entities capture market share of customers seeking low-carbon shipping solutions.
    • 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 Entities in the Air Freight & Logistics industry generate air pollutants that may threaten human health. The industry’s primary air emissions include sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM), which negatively affect local air quality. As regulators debate the most efficient mechanisms to reduce local air pollution from the industry, entities may be forced to increase operating costs or make investments to modernise their fleets because of regulatory pressure, customer demand and rising fuel costs. Use of more expensive alternative fuels and mechanisms that filter emissions prior to release into the atmosphere also may affect an entity’s cost structure, requiring upfront costs but decreasing regulatory exposure over the long term.
    • 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.
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    • Water & Wastewater Management The category addresses a company’s water use, water consumption, wastewater generation, and other impacts of operations on water resources, which may be influenced by regional differences in the availability and quality of and competition for water resources. More specifically, it addresses management strategies including, but not limited to, water efficiency, intensity, and recycling. Lastly, the category also addresses management of wastewater treatment and discharge, including groundwater and aquifer pollution.
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    • 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 The Air Freight & Logistic industry’s reliance on independent contractors, mainly for courier driving, has come under increasing legal and regulatory scrutiny. The applicable jurisdictional laws and regulations that protect employees may not cover independent contractors, and entities may face regulatory sanctions for misclassifying employees as independent contractors. Entities also may face legal actions from employee and contractor claims regarding wage payments, benefits and working conditions. Legal actions also may negatively affect an entity’s brand value and ability to hire and retain employees, reducing operational efficiency and increasing turnover costs.
    • 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 Air Freight & Logistics industry may expose employees to dangerous working conditions, including accidents resulting from mechanical failure or human error. Additionally, moving packages manually is a physical process that requires special training to minimise injury. Although the fatal occupational injury rate for trucking workers is higher than average, worker safety issues in aviation are regulated strictly, which raises the risk of fines or penalties when an incident occurs. Health and safety incidents may result in work stoppages and a range of costs, from medical expenses to workers’ compensation. Such incidents also may reduce productivity, and thus revenues, if employees believe their safety and well-being are being neglected. Finally, entities with poor safety records also may face increased insurance premiums and higher costs of capital, as well as reputational damage that may reduce revenue and market share. An entity may mitigate these effects by providing adequate employee protection and training, ensuring mechanical equipment is functioning safely, and establishing a culture of workplace safety.
    • 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.
      • Supply Chain Management Many entities in the Air Freight & Logistics industry contract with large, complex networks of asset-based third-party providers to provide freight transportation services to their customers. Contracting is common among entities providing freight forwarding, logistics, brokerage and intermodal services. These contractors operate across all modes of transport such as motor carriers, railroads, air freight and ocean carriers. Entities must manage contractor relationships to ensure contractor actions that may result in environmental or social impacts do not result in material adverse effects on their own operations, such as decreased brand value. At the same time, entities that offer low-carbon logistics solutions may capture market share from customers seeking to reduce the carbon footprint of their shipments.
    • 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).
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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.
      • Accident & Safety Management All modes of transportation pose safety risks. In some cases, mechanical failure or human error may result in accidents with significant environmental or social consequences, including regulatory action and lawsuits from impacted communities or customers. Although the stringency of regulatory requirements may vary by the region of operation, entities that maintain the highest safety standards throughout their global operations may minimise the risks of safety incidents that affect their reputation and profitability.
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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).
      None
    • 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 Real estate assets consume significant amounts of energy for space heating, ventilating, air conditioning, water heating, lighting and using equipment and appliances. The type and magnitude of energy used and strategies for energy management are dependent upon the real estate asset class, among other factors. Generally, grid electricity is the predominant form of consumed energy, though on-site fuel combustion and renewable energy production also serve important roles. Energy costs may be borne by entities or property occupants; either way, energy management is a significant industry issue. To the extent that the real estate owner assumes direct responsibility for energy costs, such costs often represent significant operating costs, indicating the importance of energy management. Energy pricing volatility and a general trend of electricity price increases, energy-related regulations, potentially wide variations in energy performance in existing building stock, and opportunities for efficiency improvements through economically attractive capital investments all show the importance of energy management. Energy costs assumed by occupants, either in whole or in part, are nonetheless likely to affect entities through various channels. Building energy performance is a notable driver of tenant demand, because it allows them to control operating costs, mitigate potential environmental impacts, and, often just as importantly, maintain a reputation for resource conservation. Additionally, real estate owners may be exposed to energy-related regulations even if energy costs are the occupants’ responsibility. Overall, entities that effectively manage asset energy performance may realise reduced operating costs and regulatory risks, as well as increased tenant demand, rental rates and occupancy rates—all of which drive revenue and asset value appreciation. Improving energy performance is dependent upon property type and location, target tenant market, local building codes, physical and legal opportunities to deploy distributed renewable energy, the ability to measure consumption, and existing building stock, among other factors.
    • Water & Wastewater Management The category addresses a company’s water use, water consumption, wastewater generation, and other impacts of operations on water resources, which may be influenced by regional differences in the availability and quality of and competition for water resources. More specifically, it addresses management strategies including, but not limited to, water efficiency, intensity, and recycling. Lastly, the category also addresses management of wastewater treatment and discharge, including groundwater and aquifer pollution.
      • Water Management Buildings consume significant amounts of water in their operations, through water fixtures, building equipment, appliances and irrigation. Water consumption operating costs may be significant depending on property type, tenant operations, geographical locations and other factors. Entities can be responsible for a building’s water costs, or common area water costs, though entities commonly allocate all, or a portion, of these costs to occupants. In these arrangements, water management through tenant demand and regulatory exposure continues to be important. Tenants may assess real estate asset water efficiency to control operating costs, mitigate environmental impacts of operations, and, often just as importantly, develop a reputation for resource conservation. Additionally, real estate owners may comply with water-related regulations even if water costs are the occupants’ responsibility. Overall, entities that effectively manage asset water efficiency, even if they bear no direct water costs, may realise reduced operating costs and regulatory exposure, as well as increased tenant demand, rental rates and occupancy rates—all of which drive revenue and asset value appreciation. Long-term historic water expense increases and expectations of continued increases because of overconsumption and constrained supplies resulting from population growth and shifts, pollution and climate change show the importance of water management. Improving asset water efficiency is dependent upon the property type, water availability, target tenant market, local building codes, the ability to measure consumption and the existing building stock, among other factors.
    • 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.
      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
    • 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.
      • Management of Tenant Sustainability Impacts Real estate assets generate significant sustainability impacts, including resource consumption (energy and water), waste generation and impacts on occupant health through indoor environmental quality. While entities own real estate assets, the tenant operations of such assets dominate the sustainability impacts produced by the built environment. Tenants may design and construct leased spaces according to their operating needs. In turn, their operations consume significant amounts of energy and water, generate waste, and impact the health of those living, working, shopping, or visiting the properties. While these sustainability impacts often are often generated by tenant operations and activities, real estate owners play an important role in influencing tenant sustainability impacts. The way entities in the industry structure their agreements, contracts and relationships with tenants may be instrumental in managing the sustainability impacts of their tenants effectively, and ultimately, the impacts of their assets. Managing tenant sustainability impacts may include mitigating the problem of split incentives by aligning both parties’ financial interests with sustainability outcomes, establishing systematic measurement and communication of resource consumption data, creating shared performance goals, and mandating minimum sustainability performance or design requirements, among other strategies. Effective management of tenant sustainability impacts, particularly related to energy, water and indoor environmental quality, may drive asset value appreciation, increase tenant demand and satisfaction, decrease direct operating costs, or decrease risks related to building codes and regulations.
    • 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
    • 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 Adaptation Climate change affects entities in the industry via frequent or high-impact extreme weather events and changing climate patterns. How an entity structures its business model to incorporate assessments of climate change risks, and the adaptation to such risks, may increasingly be relevant to entity value over the long-term. More specifically, investment strategies with assets located on floodplains and in coastal regions exposed to inclement weather may require increased risk mitigation and business model adaptation to long-term climate change. These strategies are especially important considering the long-term challenges associated with flood insurance rates, the financial stability of government-subsidised flood insurance programs, and financing stipulations or other creditor concerns. Besides insurance, other risk mitigation measures include improvements to physical asset resiliency and lease terms that transfer risk to tenants, although these measures can create their own costs and risks for real estate entities. To ensure long-term growth, entities must implement comprehensive climate change adaptation strategies, account for trade-offs between various risk mitigation strategies, and integrate all projected cost and benefit considerations over the long-term.
    • 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

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