Financial
resultsSustainability Approach
Sustainability proposition
Our sustainability proposition is to achieve commercial success by adopting a cost-effective mass distribution business model that offers benefits on both ends of the retail value chain without compromising our commitment to socially responsible business practice. This proposition is described in Massmart's Sustainability Model.
Achievement of this proposition is underpinned by ethics, black economic empowerment, environmental, stakeholder engagement, human capital, Corporate Social Investment and related policies that define minimum standards of sustainability practice.
Divisional Sustainability Performance At A Glance
Managing sustainability at Massmart.
Responsibility for monitoring the scope and quality of sustainability practice rests with the Massmart Social and Ethics Committee previously called the Sustainability Committee. This Committee has been renamed and now includes in its terms of reference the requirements of the Companies Act, 2008, in regard to this type of committee. The Committee was reconstituted as a result of the Walmart transaction and now comprises two non-executive directors, the Massmart CEO, Corporate Affairs executive and the Group Human Capital executive and an independent external sustainability expert.
The committee meets bi-annually with the objective of reviewing Massmart’s Socially Responsible Investment Index, Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment, and Corporate Accountability reporting.
The Group’s annual sustainability priorities are agreed by the Massmart Executive Committee on the recommendation of the Group Corporate Affairs Executive. Implementation is co-ordinated by the Corporate Affairs Executive working in close collaboration with divisional executives.
Key sustainability impacts, risks and opportunities
We have progressed from our initial approach of reporting corporate accountability solely in terms of Human Capital, Black Economic Empowerment, Environment, African Operations and Corporate Social Investment scorecards.
Now we place our emphasis on providing a clear line of sight through the chain of events that starts with the stakeholder engagement process which enables us to define the risks and opportunities that result in the definition of context-specific corporate accountability objectives. A wide variety of issues were identified, investigated and debated during our stakeholder engagement process. These issues included the Walmart effect, South Africa’s Consumer Protection Act, product safety, Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE), rural poverty, the marginalisation of unemployed youth, labour rights, unsustainable consumption, local manufacturing competitiveness, biodiversity systems, the crisis in education, energy security, crime and corruption, waste management, HIV and AIDS, water security, job security, food security and many others.
In addition, we continue to report significant statistical trends via themed scorecards.
Charters and principles we follow
Our sustainability programme is strongly influenced by the criteria defined in the JSE Limited’s Socially Responsible Investment Index, Department of Trade and Industry’s Codes of Good Practice on Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment, Global Reporting Initiative III guidelines and Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) submission.
Industry and advocacy organisation participation
We are a members of and/or participants in organisations that include:
