Forbo Flooring Systems Sustainability Report 2012

7/27/2019 Forbo Flooring Systems Sustainability Report 2012

1/49

Forbo Flooring Systems

Sustainability Report

ce bee evome

2012

ce bee evome


2/49

2Forbo Flooring Systems Sustainability Report 2012


3/49


Content

Pece 4

Mee om

Mh Hueewde

Eecuve Vce Pede 5

OrganisatiOnal PrOilE

obo oo sem sub Poc 7

abou h epo 9

govece 11

Me Pce 13

Mucu 15

EnVirOnMEnt

C o ou evome 19

sube bud 28

PEOPlE

ip ou peope 31

Heh d e 34

Empoee 37

Wo wh he commu 39

ECOnOMiCOu ecoomc mpc 43

gri coe de 45


4/49


Forbo Flooring Systems, part o the Forbo

Group, a global leader in ooring* and

movement systems, oers a ull range o

ooring products or both commercial and

residential markets. Forbo Flooring Systems

manuactures and supplies high quality

linoleum, vinyl, textile, ocked and entrance

ooring products combine unctionality,

colour and design, oering total ooring

solutions or any environment.

As a global leading oorcovering

manuacturers, we have an obligation

to provide high quality products that are

produced responsibly. Our customers,employees and the wider community

want to be sure that the decisions we

make in operating our business take into

consideration and respect the needs o our

generation without impinging on the needs

o uture generations. We continue to work

diligently to minimise our impact on the

environment and deliver positive economic

and social contributions to the communities

in which we operate.

In March 2012, the Forbo Group sold itsindustrial adhesives activities, including

synthetic polymers, which was part o the

Bonding Systems division. The remaining

Bonding Systems activity, building and

construction adhesives, will now operate as

part o the Forbo Flooring Systems division.

Preface

* Flooring is the general term or the materials rom which a oor is made as well as or a oor itsel. Floor covering is a term

used to describe any generic nishing material that is applied to a oor structure to provide a walking surace. Both terms are

used interchangeably.


5/49


One clear link that I have ound between the

organisation and operations o Forbo Flooring

Systems since I oined in my new position is the

commitment to sustainability and how it creates

a sense o community between our employees

and our stakeholders. This likeminded vision not

only creates an opening or a discussion on past

accomplishments, but it also provides a platorm to

incorporate sustainability as a key element into our

uture goals and strategic plan.

In 2012, Forbo Flooring Systems continued to

concentrate on our commitment to sustainability

and our goal to reduce our environmental impact

by 25% as measured by Lie Cycle Assessment. This

ambitious goal is an example o our philosophy that

longterm business success is compatible with being

environmentally riendly and socially responsible.

Looking to the uture, we want to do an even better

ob o communicating, both internally and externally,

in an eort to become truly open and transparent

on all levels.

To close the year, we made three maor commitments

to our road map or sustainability. First, we will

adopt SA8000 across the organisation. SA8000 is

an auditable certication standard that encourages

organisations to develop, maintain and apply socially

acceptable practices in the workplace. Second, we

will submit our 2012 Sustainability Report to GRI

(Global Reporting Initiative) certication. And third,

we created a new unction Head o Sustainability

to support our organisation worldwide in creating

one message or all our products, actories and

business units.

Our uture ocus will be on the customer and on

innovation. The Forbo brand is all about reliability,

perormance and trust. With stakeholders increasinglydemanding sustainability, we know that we must

ocus on the next generation o ooring products.

Products that not only oer superior perormance and

lower cost o ownership, but also have the smallest

environmental ootprint while emphasising human

health and saety. We want to lead by example on

the issue o openness and transparency as this is the

only means or our customers to be able to compare

products and make healthier choices about the

products they are exposed to at home and at work.

I hope you will appreciate the ormat o this report

and the openness with which we have tried to share

data and stories within. I want to thank all those who

made this report possible and I look orward to

ullling our goals or 2013. I am always open to your

suggestions and comments. You can email me at

[email protected]

Kind regards,

Mh Hueewde

Executive Vice President

Forbo Flooring Systems

Message fromMatthias Huenerwadel


6/49


Organisational

prole


7/49


The United Nations denition o sustainability

recognises three individual dimensions that together

make up a sustainable policy. These are:

TheEnvironmentaldimension Planet: the

way in which measures specic to improving

the environmental impact o the processes and

products o the company are regulated and

executed.

TheSocialdimension People: the way in which

social equity and corporate governance are dened

and ollowed within the company.

TheEconomicdimension Prot: the way in which

the company organises its position in the market

place to actively develop its sustainable prole by

using its economic stability and protability or

continuous improvement.

As a global leader in ooring systems, we have a

responsibility, to all our stakeholders, to create a

better environment. The way we serve and drive the

market sets the pace and standard or worldclass

ooring solutions. Sustainable development and

creating better environments is an integral part o all

o Forbo Flooring Systems activities.

Linoleum was the rst product to be made by the

companies that would go on to become Forbo. As

a natural product made rom renewable natural

raw materials that are ully biodegradable and

environmentally riendly, we have been at the

oreront o sustainable awareness or over 150 years.

This global awareness regarding sustainability has

grown over the last ew decades as it has become

more and more clear that global warming and the

depletion o natural resources mean we cannot

continue as we have in the past i we are to ull

our obligations to uture generations. As a company,

we are committed to meeting our obligations to

uture generations and in doing so acting as a

sustainable enterprise.

Our SustainabilityPolicy

Developments that meet present needs without compromising the

ability of future generations to meet their needs

obo udewe he bod d -cuve deo o ube deveopme cceped b he

Ued no Commo o Evome d Deveopme, gee aemb reouo, 1987:


8/49


obo oo sem uppo he hee dmeo coucve d coe me houh

he oow pcpe:

Compliance Plus a commitment to go above and beyond

government regulations and requirements;

Integrating sustainability considerations into all our business

decisions;

Regular monitoring of progress on and review of sustainability

performance

Commitment to continuous improvement;

Promoting Sustainability throughout our value chain, and expecting

our suppliers and customers to comply with this;

Ensure that all staff are fully aware of our Sustainability Policy

and are committed to implementing and improving it.


9/49


About this report

In 2009, we published our rst Sustainability Policy,

based on the United Nations resolution. The report

covers the reconciliation o environmental, social

equity and economic demands the three pillars o

sustainability. In more popular terms: People, Planet,

Prot.

Between 2009 and 2011, we published annual

Environmental Reports. These Environmental Reports

will now be replaced by an annual Sustainability

Report. This, our 2012 Sustainability Report, is the rst

o these and is aligned with the Global Reporting

Initiatives (GRI) sustainability reporting ramework.

We have prepared this report in accordance with GRI

Level C reporting requirements, and as such, it is a

work in progress.

Based on GRIs sustainability reporting ramework,

this report aims to provide a transparent overview

o Forbo Flooring Systems environmental, social and

economic perormance as dened by the Global

Reporting Initiative.

We see the compilation o this report not only as a

reporting tool, but also as a way to be accountable

or our activities, and as a measure improve our

perormance over time. This report provides an

overview o Forbo Flooring Systems perormance

or the 2012 calendar year, in accordance with our

nancial reporting cycle.

We would like to thank everyone who participated in

the compilation o this report. It could not have been

written without their assistance and input. Finally,

we invite you to let us know your thoughts about

our 2012 Sustainability Report. You can do so by

contacting us at [email protected].

scope d me

The basis or our sustainability reporting is a

materiality analysis to identiy o those aspects that

are o signicance to Forbo Flooring Systems and its

stakeholders. This analysis includes the principles o

the Social Accountability standard SA 8000 and the

environmental improvement target, to which Forbo

Flooring Systems has committed itsel. The stories and

the content we provide are selected and included

because the work they reect is material to both

our sustainability strategy and direction, and more

specically to our operations.


10/49


repo boud

Unless otherwise stated, environmental data

contained in this report is limited to our 12 oor

covering manuacturing sites in the United Kingdom,

the Netherlands, Russia, France and Switzerland,

because these entities are considered the most

material in terms o their environmental impact. The

environmental data in this report does not cover our

worldwide sales ofces and warehouses in Europe,

North and South America, Russia and Asia. Unless

otherwise stated, social and economic inormation

within this report covers all sites and ofces

worldwide.

Furthermore, the Forbo Flooring Systems division

building and construction adhesives activity and its

three manuacturing sites is not part o this report,

unless otherwise stated.

No limitations exist regarding the scope or boundary

o this report as is clearly summarised in this section

or in the scope and materiality component o the

report. No restatements are necessary as this is Forbo

Flooring Systems rst GRIaligned report.

sehode couoStakeholder engagement is a longterm undertaking

at Forbo Flooring Systems. We engage with

stakeholder groups that we have dealt with or many

years to ensure we maintain our social license to

operate. The selection o stakeholders with which

we engage reects the relevance o those things

that have a direct or indirect impact on our everyday

business. In particular, we regularly consult local and

national environmental government organisations,because o the material impact o our environmental

activities.

Likewise, the social and economic dimensions o our

business lead us to include oorcoveringindustry

related organisations as well as unions.

Our stakeholder engagement during 2012 involved

a range o activities:

Internalstakeholders through regular meetings

Customers through customer eedback

mechanisms and surveys

Government(stateandlocal) through

representation on committees and other regular

contact regarding environmental and saety

compliance

Environmentalnon-governmentalorganisations

through meetings, representation on committees

and other regular contact

Suppliers through regular meetings and audits

Unions through meetings and representation on

committees

Communities through representation on

committees, open days at our manuacturing plants

and involvement with charities and schools

Industryassociations through membership and

representations in committees

The insights gained rom these activities indicated

a need to increase the level and quality o our

engagement with stakeholders. In 2013, we will

employ a more coordinated and ormal stakeholder

engagement process, to more adequately identiy

and prioritise the opinions and needs o our

key stakeholders.


11/49


Governance

Forbo Flooring Systems is part o the Forbo Group

headquartered in Baar, Switzerland. The Forbo

Group, with its two divisions Flooring Systems and

Movement Systems, employs over 5,000 people and

has an international network o 24 production and

distribution companies, six abrication centres and 37

sales organisations in 34 countries worldwide.

At Forbo, the concept o corporate governance

encompasses the entire set o principles and rules

on organisation, conduct and transparency designed

to protect shareholders interests. Forbos aim is to

strike a careul balance between management and

control. The central rules are contained in the Articles

o Association, the Organisational Regulations and

the regulations o the committees o the Board o

Directors. The inormation is set out in line with

the Directive on Inormation relating to Corporate

Governance (Directive on Corporate Governance

DCG) and the relevant publications o Corporate

Governance Report SIX Swiss Exchange. The Forbo

Corporate Governance Report is available on our

corporate website www.obo.com .

obo Code o Coduc

The Forbo Code o Conduct sets out our most

important business principles and basic values or our

employees. The Code o Conduct is central to the way

we protect and develop our reputation. It is built on

the principles o integrity, transparency and airness

and describes our responsibilities and behaviour.

The Code o Conduct not only ensures but goes

beyond compliance with the laws and regulations

wherever we run our business. It demonstrates our

commitment to acting ethically and with integrityin every situation while at the same time respecting

peoples rights as individuals. We expect this o

every single employee, everywhere, every day.

We also expect this o all our business partners.

High standards in our relationships are the oundation

or lasting success.

obo Coe VuePart o our core values and based on our Forbo Group

culture we have initiated our Forbo Way to Win values

programme. We have dened three core values that

encompass three guiding principles:

InspiringDevelopingideasandseizingopportunities

Knowingwhatmattersandfocusingonit

Raisingenthusiasmandconvincingothers

DaringTakingboldanddecisiveaction

Givingourallwithpowerandpassion

Achievinggoalswithdeterminationandstamina

CaringChallengingandencouragingoneselfandothers

Takingresponsibilityandmakingadierence

Leadingbyexampletosharedsuccess


12/49


obo oo semcomp ucueForbo Flooring Systems has 12 production acilities

in ve countries and distribution companies in over

20 countries. The business has sales ofces in Europe,

North, Central and South America as well as Asia/

Pacic. The headquarters o the Forbo Flooring

division is in Assendelt, the Netherlands. The Forbo

Flooring division includes an activity called Building

and Construction Adhesives.

OUR BOARDFORBO FLOORING SYSTEMS ORGANISATION

Sales & Marketing Supply ChainInnovation & Product

ManagementFinance

Building & ConstructionAdhesives

Matthias

Huenerwadel

Flooring Systems

The Management Team Flooring is led by Matthias Huenerwadel, Executive Vice President Flooring Systems.


13/49


Market Place

Oo ucue

Our ooring products are divided into product

categories that include linoleum, proect vinyl,

cushion vinyl, entrance ooring, ocked ooring,

carpet tiles and needleelt. Each sales entity

denes the product mix or the country or region it

represents. The ocus is to sell all products worldwide,

with local adaptations.

Forbo Flooring Systems distributes its products

worldwide and so has a strong international ocus.

Although Europe remains the largest market or Forbo

Flooring Systems. Our strategy to accelerate our

expansion in growth markets has resulted in strong

growth in Brazil and Russia.

Pubc veu Pve

Since Flooring Systems main customer segments are

Health Care and Education i.e., schools, hospitals,

retirement homes and public buildings the division

is highly dependent on public sector spending or its

ooring business. Eorts to adust the strategy to the

changed circumstances by reinorcing distribution

channels and entering new customer segments in the

private sector, such as shop ttings, ofces, hotels and

restaurants are beginning to show results. In addition

we also sell linoleum, cushion vinyl and entrance

ooring to home owners or residential areas.

The expansion o activities in growth markets will

remain important in 2013. The division expects

additional sales growth as a result o greater

penetration o the North American market and its

direct market engagement in Canada ollowing the

acquisition o the business operations o Phoenix Floor& Wall Products Inc., our previous distribution partner.

Poduc ceoe

Forbo Flooring Systems has dened six product

categories: linoleum, vinyl, ocked ooring, carpet

tiles, needleelt and entrance ooring.

LinoleumThe Flooring Systems linoleum brand Marmoleum

stands or versatility, sustainability and durability. It

combines ecological and economic values that help

bring modern and contemporary architecture to

lie. All Marmoleum oors now include Topshield2,

a waterborne UVcured urethaneacrylate hybrid

dispersion nish that results in the lowest liecycle

costs. Marmoleum is a natural oor created rom all

natural ingredients. It is the most sustainable oor in

the resilient ooring category.

Our brands: marmoleum marmoleum

touch bulletin board

furnture linoleum marmoleumsport marmoleumdual

marmoleumdecibel marmoleumohmex corklinoleum

VinylOur vinyl product category contains all variants or

the commercial market. These range rom sheet,

tile and plank to looselay options. As well as these

variants, we oer unctional products, saety ooring

and acoustic ooring right through to specialised

ESD ooring, which is specically designed to control

static discharge in sensitive areas such as clean rooms,

operating theatres and the electronics industry. For

the consumer market, we oer a broad range o

cushion vinyl.

Our brands:eternal allura colorex flex design

novilux novilon sarlon step


14/49


Flocked FlooringFlotex combines the practicality o a resilient ooring

with the slip resistant and acoustic properties usually

associated with textiles. Being completely water

proo, Flotex is also the only truly washable textile

oor covering. Flotex is available in a large variety o

designs. Alongside our traditionally printed designs,

we can digitally print any desired design, so oering

our customers truly tailormade ooring.

Our brands: flotex flotextiles flotexsottsass

Carpet tilesModular oors like carpet tiles can be quickly adapted

to new needs, so reducing the cost o change and al

lowing great design exibility. Tessera and Westbond

are two brands o carpet tiles, one tuted and the

other usion bonded. The Tessera ranges oer a vari

ety o pile heights and directional or nondirectional

designs. The Westbond collection oers reedom in

design and colour in nylon and wool.

Our brands: tessera westbond

NeedlefeltThe robust, hardwearing properties o needleelt

make it ideal or ooring installations in hightrafc

areas and areas where chairs with castors are likely to

be used, such as in ofces, retail shops and hotels. The

textile look and choice o colours blend harmoniously

into any interior design scheme.

Our brands: forte markant akzent tenor

Entrance ooringEntrance ooring systems are undamental to modern

building design minimising cleaning costs, main

taining the buildings appearance throughout the

day and protecting its ooring and environment rom

pollutants and dirt. With both textile (Coral) and rigid

(Nuway) entrance systems in our portolio, we oer

entrance solutions or every situation.

Our brands: coral nuway

Governance

Marmoleum Marbled collection


15/49


All 12 Forbo Flooring Systems manuacturing acilities

are ISO 9001 and ISO 14001certied

LinoleumDriven to a signicant degree by Forbo Flooring

Systems and the creation o our Marmoleum brand,

the crat o manuacturing linoleum has evolved

over the past 150 years. The production o linoleum

starts by growing ax, which produces linseed.

When pressed, the linseed produces linseed oil, the

basic ingredient o linoleum. The linseed oil is then

mixed with gum rosin rom pine trees, heated and

converted using oxygen into a binder called linoleum

cement. The cement is mixed with wood our,

limestone and pigments to create granules that are

pressed onto a (ute) backing using a calander.

From the calander, the continuous linoleum sheet is

transported to massive drying rooms where it is cured

at high temperature to create a hard and exible

product. This is nished by applying

a protective Topshield2 nish beore it is cut into

rolls or tiles.

VinylFlexible vinyl oor is made o PVC mixed with

plasticiser and mineral ller. The vinyl collections rom

Forbo Flooring Systems are produced using dierent

techniques: coating, pressing and calandering. These

dierent techniques enable us to produce products

with dierent but still very unctional properties.

Colours and designs are either made by colouring the

PVC paste (in the case o pressing and calandering) or

printing the layer underneath a transparent wear layer

in the coating process. Pressing is used to produced

homogeneous ESD tiles and the calandering andcoating processes are used to make the dierent

layers or our wide range o heterogeneous vinyl.

Heterogeneous vinyl is a multilayer vinyl product

with a nonwoven glass eece carrier. Employing

one or more oamed layers, as in cushioned vinyl,

can add unctional properties such as acoustic and

underoot comort. The actory nishes applied make

the products easy to clean, so helping to ensure

they stay in prime condition, even under heavytrafc conditions. Depending on the product and

application, vinyl is produced in sheet and/or tile.

Manufacturing

Eternal project vinyl


16/49


FlotexFlotex is a heavyduty, electrostatically ocked

contract carpet that has been developed or the

general contract and residential markets. It is

produced in sheet and tile. Flocking is the application

o ne bers to PVCcoated suraces. This is done by

applying a highvoltage electric eld. In a ocking

machine the ock is given a negative charge whilst

the PVCcoated substrate is earthed. Flock material

ies vertically onto the substrate where it bonds to

previously applied PVCcoating. The ocked surace is

printed using roller printers or digital print equipment.

Carpet tilesTessera carpet tiles are produced by tuting nylon

bres on a nonwoven support. In addition, the

length o the loop can be varied and the loop itsel

cut. The tuted substrate is than coated with a

polymerised bitumen mix backing and cut with a

special cutting machine.

Our other carpet tile, Westbond, is produced using

with a special usionbond process in which the

individual yarn pile is implanted onto a backing

material. This gives Westbond the highest possible

density and is the perect way to produce tiles, as

there is no tension or curving. The usionbond sheet

is laminated on a PVC backing.

Needle feltNeedle elt carpet is produced by intermingling and

elting individual polyester bers using barbed and

orked needles orming an extremely durable carpet.

Needle elt carpet is produced in several stages

starting with the needle punching o the under

layer. The top layer is needle punched with the same

technology. These two layers are needle punched

together. Depending on the product the next stage is

printing a design on the surace with environmentally

riendly waterbased inks. The last stage in the

production process is nishing the product with a

latex backing using a two cylinder calander to ensure

good penetration o the latex.


17/49


awd

Since beginning to publish annual Environmental

reports, in 2010, we have been recognised in

several countries or our commitment to the

environment, to employees, to the community

and to our customers. In 2011, our Dutch site that

produces vinyl oor covering won the energy

saving award rom the Dutch Plastic and Rubber

Association. In 2012, all our manuacturing sites in

Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom

and France were awarded national certicates that

recognise that all (100%) o their electricity needs

are met rom renewable sources.

Manufacturing

MarMOlEUM CliCk

MarMOlEUM, lOtEx

MarMOlEUM, Vinyl, CarPEt tilEs, COral,

nUWay, lOtEx

MarMOlEUM


18/49


Environment

1


19/49


Caring forour environment

We believe investments in people, processes and

products that urther improve our environmental

perormance are an investment or our uture, not a

cost o doing business.

We are committed to creating a sustainable uture

by constantly seeking ways to minimise the

environmental impacts o our products over their

whole lie cycle, rom raw material extraction to

end o lie. And while we evaluate all LCA impact

categories, we place a particular ocus on reducing

CO2

emissions and the related irreversible climate

change caused by global warming.

We shall succeed by:

Maximisingtheecientuseofrawmaterialsby

reducing, reusing and recycling;

Reducingtheuseofenergyinallproductionand

business processes, and with all eorts to switch

over to renewable energy;

Applyinggreendesignprinciplestoallournew

product and innovation development programmes;

Promotingenvironmentalresponsibilitytowardsall

our stakeholders;

OnlysupportingLCA-basedenvironmental

labelling and certications developed in an open

and transparent consensus process and validated

through a thirdparty process.

Ou m o

to couou mme he evome

mpc o obo oo sem b 25% beoe

theendof2015(versus2009),asmeasuredbythe

wehed ceoe ou depede veed

le Cce aeme meueme em.

The LCA is calculated or one square metre (1m2) o

installed oor covering rom cradle to installation.

This means that we consider every environmental

impact in the supply chain: >>

Environment


20/49


Theextractionandproductionoftherawmaterials

Transportationoftherawmaterials

Theproductionoftheoorcovering

Thetransportationoftheoorcoveringtothe

installation site

Theinstallationoftheoorcovering

The environmental impacts o our division are

calculated using the LCA model o mass weighted mix

or all products produced. This involves calculating all

environmental impacts rom cradle to installation. We

also include the energy consumption o all our ofces

and Forboowned warehouses worldwide.

We urther take into account the ollowing

environmental impact categories:

acdco Poe

The acidication o soils and waters predominantly

occurs through the transormation o air pollutants

into acids. This leads to a decrease in the pHvalue

o rainwater and og which damages ecosystems,

whereby orest dieback and sh dying in lakes are

the most wellknown impacts.

EutrophicationPotential

Eutrophication includes all impacts due to a too high

level o macronutrients in the environment. Nitrogen

(N) and phosphorus (P) are the most important

eutrophicating elements. This enrichment may cause

an undesirable shit in the composition o a species

and an increased production o biomass within

aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In addition, high

nutrient concentrations can also make surace waters

unacceptable or drinking water supply.

OzoneLayerDepletionPotential

The problem o the breakdown o stratosphericozone is a result o human emissions. Because o

the thinning o the ozone layer, a larger raction o

the suns UVB radiation reaches the earths surace.

This can have harmul eects on human health,

animal heath, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems,

biochemical cycles, as well as on materials.

PhotoOxidantCreationPotential

Photooxidant ormation, also called summer smog,

is the ormation o reactive substances mainly

ozone, which are inurious to human health and

ecosystems, and which may damage crops. Despite

playing a protective role in the stratosphere, at

groundlevel ozone is classied as a damaging

trace gas. High concentrations o ozone are toxic to

humans.

AbioticDepletionPotential

Abiotic resources are those that come rom non

living, nonorganic material. Abiotic depletion

includes depletion o nonrenewable resources, i.e.

ossil uels, metals and minerals.

GlobalWarmingPotential

Emissions resulting in a rise in the earths

temperature. This is popularly reerred to as the

Greenhouse eect . The global warming potential

is calculated in CO2

equivalents. This means that the

greenhouse potential emission is given in relation

to CO2

.

We strongly believe that creating better environments

means reducing all environmental impacts not only

Global Warming. We thereore weight all six impact cat

egories equally and express them in one index gure.

>


21/49


suppe pcpo

When we began inorming our suppliers o our goal

to reduce environmental impact by 25% compared to

2009, we ound that most o them either already had

similar proects in place or indicated that they cared

about the environment.

In our previous annual Environmental Reports,

we took into account results relating to the actual

development and production o our oor coverings.

For our 2012 Sustainability Report, we have begun to

start integrating the results o our main raw materials

suppliers. The rst two raw materials to be evaluated

were wood our and PVC. To do so, we took into ac

count any changes in raw material use, yields, waste

recycling or reuse, energy and water consumption.

The results or both raw materials are very positive as

in both cases the environmental ootprint improved

compared to 2009. This was achieved by the wood

our suppliers to our Assendelt operations changing

over to green electricity based on biomass or wind

energy. Furthermore, the PVC supplied to all our

sites was produced using less energy. The weighted

energy consumption or the PVC was reduced by 5%

compared to 2009.

LCA INDEX

Environmental ootprint

110%

100%

90%

80%

70% 2009 2010 2011 2012


Our environmental ootprint index shows an

improvement in 2012. The biggest average

contribution to our goal came rom including the

improvements made by our wood our and PVC

suppliers. However, many o our manuacturing sites

also made a positive contribution: reducing energy

use, increasing the recycled content o the products

produced and reducing the use o raw materials.

All these improvements are also reected in the

reduction o our carbon ootprint, as shown in the

Global Warming Potential graph.

oo-cove

oBy material weight, the adhesive used to install

a oor covering makes a big contribution to the

environmental ootprint o 1m2 o ooring. During

2012, we started to introduce a new adhesive

or Marmoleum. This eatures an improved

environmental ootprint because o a much lower

application weight and releases no emissions into

the indoor air. We will evaluate the new adhesives

contribution to our LCA index in our 2013 report.

GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL

Carbon Footprint

110%

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%2009 2010 2011 2012


22/49



PRIMARY ENERGY INDEX (all energy)

Direct Energy: Oil Mj/m2 Direct Energy: Gas Mj/m2

Indirect Energy: Electricity Mj/m2

50

40

30

20

10

02009 2010 2011 2012

reduce, reewbe,reue, recce

These 4 Rs are at the heart o our eorts to reduce

our impact on the environment and are important

indicators in our quest to become a more sustainable

company. With a publicly stated obective o reducing

our LCA by 25% by 2015 versus 2009, it is important to

view how we are progressing in each aspect as each

will have an impact on our overall perormance target.

ReduceWe consider this the most important R reducing our

consumption o materials, energy and waste has the

biggest impact both environmentally and nancially.

Reducing consumption and waste will have a

signicant impact in reducing the environmental

ootprint.

EnErgy

We are seeing an upswing in our energy consump

tion. This is caused by lower product volumes,

which leads to less efciency in our production,

plus a change in our sales towards more commercial

products. Commercial product on average has

a higher square meter weight requiring more energy

to produce.

WastE

The total amount o material that was sent to landll

sites increased slightly compared to 2011.

PRODUCT WASTE BREAKDOWN

14%

7%

23%Waste to

energy

Recycle

Reuse

Landll


23/49


Renewable

EnErgy

We have an ongoing policy o sourcing our electricity

supplies rom renewable sources. In 2012, renewable

supplied 97% o all the electricity consumed in our

manuacturing acilities. This in turn is helping to

reduce our carbon ootprint by eliminating CO2

emissions to the environment. We continue to believe

that limiting the environmental impact at source is ar

better than osetting

Reuse and recycling

Firstly, we must explain what we mean by reuse

and recycling. Forbo denes reuse as being waste

generated that ater reprocessing can be ed back as a

raw material into the same manuacturing processes.

Our denition o recycling is material diverted rom the

waste stream during a manuacturing process that is

sent to a third party (other Forbo Flooring Systems sites

or external recyclers) or them to use as a raw material.

In 2012 we reused and recycled more than 79% o our

product waste.

ELECTRICITY MIX

% Renewable energy % NON renewable energy

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012


% REUSED & RECYCLED PRODUCT WASTE

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%2009 2010 2011 2012

PRIMARY ENERGY MIX 2012

1,15%

1,62%

44

,6%

52,6%

Gas

Electricity

Renewable

ElectricityNONrenewable

Oil


24/49


In 2011 and 2012, the weighted average amount

o recycled and reused content in our products

came to over 24%. This is positive in every respect.

Marmoleum has long contained the most reused and

recycled material o all resilient oor coverings. Today,

our ocus is on nding urther innovative solutions

aimed at reusing and recycling waste in our other

products. As a result, we now have a wide portolio o

products with recycled content and this portolio will

continue to grow in the years ahead.

Cpe: Tessera is available in 100% postconsumer

recycled yarn and Westbond tiles have a recycled PVC

backing.


MARMOLEUM - % RECYCLED & REUSED

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%2009 2010 2011 2012

CARPET - % RECYCLED & REUSED

15%

12%

9%

6%

3%

0%2009 2010 2011 2012

VINYL - % RECYCLED & REUSED

9%

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%2009 2010 2011 2012

ENTRANCE SYSTEMS - % RECYCLED & REUSED

5%

4%

3%

2%

1%

0%2009 2010 2011 2012

oe e: The most sustainable carpet tile, it

eatures a recycled and reused content o up to 58%.

Ece sem: Coral Welcome is available in

100% postconsumer recycled yarn.

V: Vinyl is available with up to 45% recycled

content in the backing.

Mmoeum: Marmoleum is almost a closedloop

product and contains up to 43% recycled and reused

content.


25/49


Po-o weecc

In the last years, manuacturers have begun to pay

great attention to postindustrial waste and have

invested heavily to reduce, reuse and recycle waste

generated in the manuacturing process. Installation

waste, however, has continued to be neglected both

as waste and as a potential resource. As we invest in

internal recycling solutions coupled with the increasing

cost o raw materials, we are now turning our attention

to installation waste (which can account or up to 6%

o an installation). From a recycling perspective, it is

as good to process as postindustrial waste because

we know what it contains and as long as it is ree o

contaminants. The difculty has always lain in creating

a sustainable logistics inrastructure to make the collec

tion o postinstallation waste economically viable.

In 2010 and 2011, we participated in installationwaste

takeback programmes when we supported schemes

or Vinyl, in Sweden, and Linoleum in the USA and the

Netherlands. In September 2012, we began developing

a Back to the Floor scheme in the UK that involves

reprocessing installation ocuts o Flotex, smooth

sheet vinyl, cushion vinyl and Marmoleum back into

new Forbo Flooring products. This year, we will start a

similar programme in France, or Vinyl.

During 2012, we reused a 81 tons o installation waste

in our manuacturing processes:

27tonsofMarmoleumintheNetherlands

51tonsofvinylinSweden

3tonsofFlotexintheUK

In addition, we recycled and composted a urther 65

tons o Marmoleum in the USA. Our target is to growthis takeback programme substantially, to at least

double the total in 2013.


Po-coume weecc

Forbo Flooring Systems is participating in various

recycling initiatives all over Europe. These include

CRUK in the United Kingdom, GBR in Sweden and

SFEC in France. Forbo Flooring Systems is also a

ounding member o EPFLOOR.

EPFLOOR membership comprises all the maor

Western European vinyl ooring manuacturers,

representing over 90% o the vinyl produced in

Europe. Since 2001, EPFLOOR members have

provided increasing unds or supporting the

recycling o postconsumer waste. Whilst the rst

years were mainly concentrated on R&D, since 2004,

increase o collection has been a priority, resulting in

over 2000 tons o recycled waste in 2012.

hp://www.epoo.eu/

CLOSING THE LOOP


26/49



Composting Marmoleum

Forbo Flooring Systems North America continued to

develop its composting programme or Marmoleum

during 2012. The programme started in US

warehouses in 2008 when a proect team designed

and built containers out o reused lumber and

cardboard rom pallets and shipping braces. These

containers o reused lumber and cardboard, along

with the Marmoleum scrap they hold, are grounded

up with public yard waste to make compost. The

compost is suitable or use in armers elds, vegetable

gardens, and home owerbeds.

Building on this, we have started to collect and

composte installation waste as well. The waste is

collected by Forbo Flooring Systems North America

delivery trucks as part o their routine schedules. This

involves dropping o a scrap container when we

make a delivery to a Forbo Flooring Systems dealer,

and collecting it during a uture delivery, when the

container is ull or near ull. This way, we dont require

extra truck movements, which means we are not

adding to the transportation burden.

Composting Marmoleum is closing the loop: natural

renewable raw materials like ax, ute, rosin and wood

are recycled back to nature eld to eld. In 2012,

Forbo Flooring Systems North America composted

another 132 tons; 65 ton o installation waste and 67

ton o warehouse scrap.


27/49


Evome PoducDeco EPD

Forbo Flooring Systems began publishing

Environmental Product Declarations or our individual

oor covering products in 2012. Today, two o our

products have an EPD certicate and we are committed

to carrying on until all our products are certied in 2013.

An EPD presents quantied environmental data or

a product, based on inormation rom a lie cycle

assessment (LCA). An EPD is a thirdpartyveried

report that summarises and explains the data

generated rom an LCA.

Our EPDs are based on the Product Categories Rules

set out in EN 15804 and the NSF standard. Product

Category Rules dene how to conduct a lie cycle

assessment or a product group and what data to

include in the resulting report.

In principle, the benchmark when using EPDs to

compare products is the contribution they make

to the environmental perormance o a building.

Consequently, the comparisons o the environmental

perormance o competitive oor covering products

using EPD inormation is based on a products use in a

building and the impact it has on the building.

www.u.com/ob/e/pe/ofe/

buee/evome/dbeech/me/



28/49


Mo Cuce, chec

SUSTAINABILITY IS A WONDERFUL CHANCE FOR A CHANGE

It is an ethical position to approach buildings in relation to the environment. Buildings count or 50% o all human

energy consumption, so we have to be much more energyefcient. To me, beauty is not only in the shape but also

in the environmental perormance o a building. I would call it a new rontier. About 40 years ago, we started thinking

about how technology can add to the beauty o a building. Now we ace a new stage in the denition o beauty: how

a building is embedded in the environment and related to the climate.

This approach brings back content into architecture. Dont misunderstand me: aesthetics is very important.

A building is something you have to look at every day. But I think we went too ar in our ocus on orm and aesthetics.

Architecture is nowadays oten produced with the idea o selling the building or looking good in architecture

magazines. It has become virtual; it is not related to reality but mainly to communication. It is much too easy to

generate images, but they have no relation with the environment. Architecture is not only an industrial product,

it is also a social product. A building has to be useul. Useulness means providing comort. Comort is not merely a

consequence o the design o a building, something that comes in later, but an essential concern during the whole

design process. An interesting shape doesnt necessarily provide comort. Good space and a good quality o air have

to receive attention rom the very beginning o the process. By useulness, I also mean that we have to deal with

Sustainable buildings

obo oo sem membe o gee

Bud Couc d sube Bud

oo oud he wod d m

ce, we e oud membe.

Buildings are the largest contributor to greenhouse

gas emissions. Buildings use enormous amounts o

energy and water, and are huge contributors to waste.

Green Building is the practice o creating structures

and using processes that are environmentally respon

sible and resourceefcient throughout a buildings lie

cycle, rom location to design, construction, operation,

maintenance, renovation, demolition and end o lie.

We actively support organisations involved in the

built environment in their eorts to design sustain

able buildings with lower environmental ootprints.

Moreover, we oer products that contribute to the

overall reduction o the built environmental ootprint

helping to create sustainable buildings.

In 2008 we published an interview with Mario

Cucinella, a amous architect rom Bologna in our

Archidea magazine. With Mario we talked about

sustainable buildings.

>>

Mario Cucinella


29/49


Sustainable buildings

the impact o a building beyond its perimeter, in the way it relates to its environment: its emissions and use o energy.

That implies taking a much wider view o what a building is.

The sustainable approach may be considered a revolution in architecture much more interesting than the modernist

movement. Modernism resulted in the International Style, and as a result you see the same buildings everywhere.

But the sustainable approach orces you to respect local conditions. A building has to engage in dialogue with its

local climate. It is very dierent challenge to design a building in the North or the South o Italy, in Paris or in Kuala

Lumpur. I dont say we have to go back to vernacular architecture with Swedish architects designing in wood and

Swiss architects in stone, or example. I ust mean that climatic conditions have to be taken into account rom the start

o the design process. We have to move away rom an international style to an environmental style. Climate conditions

present a great opportunity to make buildings in a dierent way, to allow more sunlight in or less, to make a massive or

a light building. The sustainable movement is a wonderul chance or change.

This doesnt mean that buildings will look more like machines. Technology is only one aspect o sustainable

architecture. In the 80s we believed in technology. We thought that we could make any building with technology and

we would be able to live in a machine. That dream is over; in recent years we have come to realise that its impossible

to create a building that unctions like a machine, ull o glass and air conditioning. You cannot articially create good

conditions. It results in sick building syndrome, people living in uncomortable spaces, the consumption o a lot o

energy; it is like keeping a very sick person alive articially take away the machine and he will die.

We have learned that gradually. But now we have an interesting opportunity to take account o ventilation, heating

and cooling rom the start o the design, by modiying the shape, the mass and the orientation o the building. You

can have technology at the end o the process, o course. In the end it is all about priorities; here, in our ofce, we put

environment at the top o the list, not a abulous shape or a glamorous building.

>>

Centre for Sustainable Energy Technology, Ningbo, China


30/49


People


31/49


Inspiring our people

Forbo Flooring Systems has long been committed to

ethical trading, based on the belie that business can

be both protable and responsible. We believe that

building meaningul longterm relationships with

employees, customers, suppliers and communities

is good business practice or us and is what our

customers expect o us. This is, and always has been,

the ounding principle o our commitment to Social

Equity.

Forbo Flooring Systems is rmly committed to

the adoption and integration o the ollowing

International Labour Organisation conventions

throughout our global supply chain and into our core

business activities.

Employmentisfreelychosen

Freedomofassociationandtherighttocollective

bargaining

Workingconditionsaresafeandhygienic

Childlabourshallnotbeused

Remunerationshallmeetatleasttheminimum

legal or industry standard

Workinghoursarenotexcessive

Nodiscriminationispracticed

Regularemploymentisprovided

Noharshorinhumanetreatmentisallowed

Ou commme o oucommu

Forbo Flooring Systems recognises its corporate

responsibility to ve main groups in its community.

We are committed:

to empoee:To respect the rights o all employees,

whether directly employed or subcontracted.

to cuome: To win and retain customers who

adhere to business principles consistent with our own

by developing and providing services that oer value

in terms o price, quality, saety and environmental

impact. To be responsive to customer comments and

complaints.

to hehode: To build shareholder value by

consistently increasing earnings. To conduct our

operations in accordance with accepted principles

o good corporate governance. To provide timely

and accurate inormation to all shareholders on our

activities and perormance.

to uppe d bue pe: To seek

mutually benecial relationships with suppliers and

oint venture partners. To require that, as ar as is

practicable, all o these adhere to business principles

consistent with our own.

to he wde commu:To conduct business as

responsible corporate citizens, to give proper regard

to the health, saety and the environment o local

communities, and to be sensitive to and supportive o

local cultural, social, educational and economic needs.


32/49


Our people are an important core value o Forbo

Flooring Systems. They are the ones who make and

sell our oors, see the potential, have the ideas, talk

things through with colleagues and clients, do things

as well as they know how and then nd ways o

doing them better.

We nurture their potential by encouraging sel

reliance and initiative, both as individuals and in

teams, through training and a management approach

that doesnt ust connect people through hierarchy,

but interconnects them through dialogue.

We invest in our people and try to oer them a

stimulating working environment. We want our people

to be the most knowledgeable, skilled and trusted

partners in the industry and with them we ocus on

education as well as a sae and pleasant working

environment.

We recognise that by looking ater our employees,

our business operates more successully across the

world. Our workorce includes those rom our head

ofce in Assendelt, the Netherlands, everyone in

operations and warehousing, and all our sales and

marketing ofces worldwide. At the end o 2012, our

total workorce amounted to 3.034 people.

Strategic workforceplanning

Although 2012 was a challenging year economically,

Forbo Flooring Systems was able to maintain overall

employee numbers at the same level as 2011.

Turning to our sales organisations, the growth here

was ully aligned to our Flooring Systems strategy

o concentrating on emerging and growth markets

and exploring private sector opportunities. Our sales

organisation in Brazil was one o our astest growing

organisations in 2012.

Despite the lower demand or linoleum, Forbo

Flooring Systems made a strategic choice to

invest heavily in our innovation and development

capabilities. As a result, our Innovation department

will gather, explore and unnel ideas that will make

new and better product proposals. The Development

department will take these initiatives and work with

the production sites to make these innovations ready

or production.


33/49


Social Accountability8000 Forbo Flooring

Reims certifed

The International Labour Organisation conventions

orm a main part o our sustainability policy. We have

thereore embraced the SA8000 standard as a means

to integrate the International Labour Organisation

(ILO) conventions throughout our global supply chain

and into our core business activities.

During 2012, we ran a pilot proect at Forbo Flooring

Systems Sarlino, in Reims, France. The SA8000

management standard challenged us to classiy and

organise existing Human Resource Management

documentation dierently. The certication process

involved proving we conormed to the standard

in our daily practises and communication, but our

biggest challenge was to view all stakeholders as part

o our social responsibility, especially our suppliers.

sUPPliEr rEqUirEMEnts

We are now using this standard not only to

benchmark our own activities, but, especially, to

ensure that our worldwide suppliers are committed

to social equity or their employees, too. We ask all

our suppliers to conrm that they support the ILO

conventions and to strive or compliance i this is

not the case. The next step in the SA8000 proect will

be to certiy our other French site, which produces

Flotex, at Chateau Renault.

Employee developmentand reward

In developing our people we are in eect developing

our organisation, and vice versa, and it is with this inmind that the core o our perormance management

system is an active and rigorously applied employee

development programme. Every individual

deserves to be recognised or their contribution

and our perormance appraisal system is the ormal

process by which this recognition is established.

The perormance appraisal orms the starting point

or urther development actions, such as training,

coaching or ob enlargement. The perormance

appraisal is also used or our internal succession

planning process. In 2012, the perormance appraisal

completion rate was 86%, versus a target o 95%.

Forbo Flooring Systems is strongly ocused on oering

exibility in relation to employees being able to

balance work and amily responsibilities. Flexibility

around start and nish times, parttime work and

return to work ater parental leave are all part o the

way we ensure that worklie balance is integral to

working lie at Forbo Flooring Systems.

Our reward system is based on our belie that

people should be airly rewarded or their individual

contribution. Our sta employee remuneration is

graded against the Hay Group ob evaluation process,

and is inuenced by the nancial perormance o the

company and remuneration specialist surveys and

reviews. An annual salary review process is in place in

which salary survey and economic data is taken into

consideration.

lOCal Hiring

Forbo Flooring Systems has no personnel policy or

employment practices that provide or preerential

treatment o persons rom local vicinities in

connection with the hiring o members o

management or the respective country organisations.

Inspiring our people


34/49


Health and safety

The saety o our employees is our top priority

across Forbo Flooring Systems. Many employees

at our manuacturing and distribution sites work

with complex machinery in busy environments, so

stringent adherence to our occupational health and

saety strategy is essential. Our Assendelt site in the

Netherlands and our Reims site in France are already

OHSAS 18001 certied and we are now introducing

this saety management system at our other main

manuacturing sites as we are convinced this will

contribute to a saer working environment.

Our safety performance

The key indicators o our saety perormance are:

LostTimeAccidents

LostDaysInjury

TotalAccidentFrequencyRate

SafetyConcernsFrequencyRate

These key perormance indicators are measured

and reported monthly at all sites. In 2011 and 2012,

all sites developed and executed sae awareness

programmes to reduce the number o accidents. In

2012, we saw a drop in lost time accidents but a rise

in lost days. We expect the gures or 2013 to benet

rom the training programmes we ran in 2012.

We started to report our Total Accident Frequency

Rate and Saety Concern Frequency rate in 2012,

with results or the year coming in at 83 and 404

respectively. Total accidents are dened as all

accidents, including those with no inuries. A saety

concern is dened as all reported unsae situations

and near misses. These two indicators are reportedto management every month to improve our overall

saety perormance.

LOST TIME ACCIDENTS

38

36

34

32

30

282009 2010 2011 2012

LOST DAY INjURY

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

02009 2010 2011 2012


35/49


Health and safety

Our safety initiatives

Site policy and procedures across all o our operations

cover the ollowing areas to ensure employee saety:

Provisionofpersonalprotectiveequipment

Jointmanagement/employeehealthandsafety

committees

Participationofworkerrepresentativesinhealth

and saety inspections, audits and accident

investigations

Trainingandeducation

Safetyconcernsreportingmechanisms

Periodicsiteinspections

While we are investing signicant resources to

improve our work systems and upgrade equipment,

we also recognise that variability in saety peror

mance can oten be attributed to behavioural actors.

Sustainable behavioural change is thereore key to

our longterm OHS strategy and the ocus o many o

our training programmes.

Health

Although it is very important to have a good

absenteeism protocol, prevention is increasingly

important, especially with an ageing workorce in our

production acilities.

We thereore have a number o initiatives to promote

the health and wellbeing o our employees. For

example:

IntheNetherlands,wehaveseveralprogrammes,

such as increasing preventive medical checkups

and a healthy liestyle programme Forbo in

Balance that promotes the consumption o healthy

ood in the companys restaurants and tness

activities.

OurRipleysite,intheUnitedKingdom,hasaClinch

an Inch programme under which employees weight

and BMI are measured and inormation is provided

on healthy ood. I wanted, employees can also get

advice on target weight, diet and exercise..

Inspiringour people:

Knowing what mattersand ocusing on it


36/49


Health and safety

Heh & se e-e

Be geew, Deco Opeo rpe, Uk

At Ripley, the Health and Saety Committee identied that the majority o accidents, and the

more serious accidents, occurred during non-standard working and when several unusual events

occurred together. Each accident was highly individual. Thereore, we decided that the only

way to combat this was to ensure that people did regular training to maintain awareness. We

thereore chose to implement a web-based training system.

The provider and system we chose allows or each individual on site to have an online account

showing training that is due, overdue and a complete history o training taken previously.

Topics are o an interactive basis, which keeps the individual interested, or hopeully interested

all the way through the hour-long course. At the end o this a series o questions are asked on

the subject that has just been taught and currently Ripley has the pass/ail mark set at 80%,

although we have ull access to change this should we in uture wish to.

Two other oerings that our system allows are, rst, asking a series o H&S questions at the

end o the training course, giving the management team eedback on how the H&S message is

getting across to the workorce, and, secondly, we can take Classroom training sessions using

hand-held devices or participants to use when answering questions. This option gives managers

a chance to get their teams together and attempt to put across a subject that is oten thought o

as boring in a rather more light-hearted way, hopeully helping the topics to sink in a little better.

We as a management team believe that this training is keeping H&S at the oreront o peoples

thoughts and has been a positive step orward in seeing our accident data show both a

downward trend and an increased level o activity in reporting possible near misses and saety

concerns, all preventative and good practice.


37/49


Employee training

The starting point or training is the annual

perormance appraisal, in which individual training

requirements are matched with the training

requirements indicated in the organisations strategy

as well as the legal training requirements that are in

place.

Forbo Flooring Systems conducts a wide range o

training, rom management development to actory

oor skills enhancement, and a number o proessional

employees have been supported in obtaining post

graduate qualications such as Masters degrees. Other

specialist employees are given the opportunity to

attend seminars and conerences.

Ontheob training or Forbo Flooring Systems

production and warehousing operators includes:

Siteandcompanyintroduction

Hazardidentication,controlandriskassessment

Jobsafetyanalysis

Job-specictraining

Several local and international training programmes

are in place. In 2012, the ollowing international

programmes were provided:

Forboleadership&managementcourses

Flooringmanagementtrainingprogrammes

(see below)

Projectmanagementtraining

Salestrainingprogramme

Producttrainingprogramme

Preventionofcorruptiontraining

The above programmes will continue in 2013. In

addition, a LEED (Leadership in Environmental and

Energy Design, a Green Building rating system)

training programme will be started and the Forbo

Sustainability elearning programme will be urther

rolledout.

The Flooring management training programme

was conceived by the Management Team Flooring

(MTF) in 2011. The overall obective o the training

programme is to acilitate participants in urther

contributing to the delivery o the Flooring Systems

Strategy.

In 2012, 97 employees completed one or more

modules in this training programme. The modules are:

Strategicsalesandmarketing&buildingstrategies

Innovationasacompetitiveadvantage

Financefornon-nancialmanagers

Peoplemanagement

Sustainabilityandtheenvironment

PrinciplesofLeanmanagement


38/49


39/49


Workingwith the community

Forbo Flooring Systems takes an active role in the

communities in which we operate. We conduct a

stakeholder analysis at all production companies as

part o environmental management, in accordance

with ISO 14001.

Through proactive engagement, we support each

respective local economy and contribute to the social

environment. Forbo Flooring Systems understands

that in order to operate in these communities,

we must minimise any potential negative impact

o our operations. We do this by operating and

communicating transparently within these

communities, mitigating our environmental impacts

where possible, monitoring our environmental

perormance and engaging in community

consultation.

One example o community engagement is the open

actory days we hold to ensure open communication

with our neighbours. In 2012, we held open days

at our actories in Krommenie and Coevorden, the

Netherlands.

Employees and society

Forbo Flooring Systems is keen to make a sustainable

contribution to improving peoples quality o lie. To this

end, various socialaid proects are supported on site

with products, expertise and nancial contributions.

The ocus is on small, locally initiated proects and

partnerships. Some examples rom 2012 are:

Ronald McDonaldfoundation theNetherlands

There are currently over 320 Ronald McDonalds

Houses in 52 countries. Ronald McDonald Houses

oer a place to stay or amilies whose children are

receiving treatment in hospital. Every night, Ronald

McDonalds Houses provide over 7,200 bedrooms to

amilies around the world.

Forbo Flooring in the Netherlands supports the

Ronald McDonald child und nancially and in other

ways such as, or example, sponsoring the oor

coverings in the Dutch Ronald McDonald houses.

The Ronald McDonald Child Charities in the

Netherlands has 15 houses, two holiday sites and

a sports location. Every house has two or three

paid sta, but is urther run mainly by volunteers.

Furthermore, every house is independently nanced

and has its own governing board and, generally, its

own ambassador, too.


40/49


Outward Bound UK

Forbo Flooring Systems is involved with the Outward

Bound Trust, an educational charity that helps young

people to realise their potential through learning

in nature. In addition to contributing to the cost o

sending classes o school children away or weeklong

trips, Forbo Flooring Systems also asks employees to

become involved as mentors.

This pretty much summed up the days ahead. During

the week there were opportunities to build seagoing

rats, ace down any ear o heights by umping o a

etty into an estuary, build shelters solely rom oraged

materials, and to learn to read maps, explore cavesand participate in many more group proects and

problemsolving tasks.

Enjoy and achieve!

they were told. This is

not a school, but you willbe learning its not a

holiday park, but you will

have fun its not a boot

camp, but at times it will

be tough and challenging.


41/49


Garden project Hazleton, Pennsylvania,USA

The Butler Township Community Garden is a

great example o educating a community about

sustainability like organic gardening, composting,

box gardens, gardening in an urban environment

and grow local by local, all to support the community

in which you live. All educational programmes are

ree as the garden has a summer programme or kids

and or those rom the local assisted living homes.

Community members can rent a small garden area

or $7 to $15, depending on the size, or the entire

summer, making growing your own vegetables

un and inexpensive. On any weekend, you will see

amilies together working their garden, garden classes

well attended, and people helping people.

Forbos involvement as ounding member is not

limited to sponsoring but also involves educating

everyone taking part, employees and the wider

community about how one can contribute to

sustainability through recycling and composting.

Not only was a system set up or composting organic

ofce waste rom the local county, but ertilizing is

also done with compost rom Marmoleum scraps. Its

been a great education experience or our employees

at the ofce and at home.

Workingwith the community


42/49


Economic


43/49


Oureconomic impact

D veme

Central to our obective in becoming a sustainable

organisation is maintaining a strong economic

position something that will be enhanced by

continuous improvement and innovation in the

design, service, perormance, scope and quality o our

oer to all our stakeholders. O course, we will achieve

this while respecting the responsibilities covered by

Corporate Governance, risk and crisis management,

codes o conduct and compliance with international

laws and regulations.

Bue e

Forbo Flooring Systems insists on integrity, honesty

and equality in all aspects o our business and

we seek the same rom those with whom we do

business, directly and indirectly. No employee may

directly or indirectly oer, pay, solicit or accept a bribe

or other such payment that may be construed as

such, in any orm.

Forbos Code o Conduct applies to all our employees

and clearly stipulates that the company will not

engage in or tolerate any disputable or corrupt

business practices. The Code o Conduct is part o

Forbos education programme and is mandatory

training or all relevant employees via, or instance,

online training modules. To yearend 2012, more than

1,100 Flooring employees had successully completed

the programme.

r meme

Risk management and risk assessment is an

integral part o Forbos organisational processes

and is included in every decisionmaking process.

Periodically, nancial and hazard risks are identied

and assessed internally or by third parties. Once risks

have been identied and assessed, all techniques to

manage the risk all into one or more o the ollowing

our maor categories:

Avoidance(eliminate)

Reduction(mitigate)

Sharing(outsourceorinsure)

Retention(acceptandbudget)

r eme

Forbo Group conducts an annual risk assessment

that analyses 100% o the business areas within the

company. The assessment covers internal controls

and business risk, and includes targeted questions

concerning raud and corruption. An additional and

more ocused risk assessment devoted entirely to

raud and corruption is conducted annually with key

executives. This risk assessment addresses corruption

in business areas on a materiality basis.


44/49


Ou ecoomcpeomce

Forbo Flooring Systems consolidated nancial result

or 2012 is including the divisions new building and

construction adhesives activity.

Signicant indicators or the generation and

distribution o value plus the organizations total

capitalization with breakdown in debt and equity in

accordance with GRI requirements can be ound in

the Forbo Group Annual Report:

www.obo.com/e/iveo-reo/

c-Pubco/au-repo-2012/

seeco o oc beduppeForbo Flooring Systems pursues a procurement policy

that ocuses on low costs, saety and independence.

Beore a collaboration agreement can be concluded,

a multiplestage risk analysis and assessment

including environmental and social risks is carried

out or every new supplier (see also SA8000 section).

Wherever possible, we buy goods and services rom

local businesses. However there are no directives

regarding preerential treatment o local suppliers or

rom certain countries.

For more inormation on topics covered in this

report, please contact Forbo Flooring Systems at

[email protected]


45/49


G3.1 Content Index

STANDARD DISCLOSURES PART I: Profle Disclosures

1. Strategy and Analysis

Profle Disclosure Description Reported

1.1 Statement rom the most senior decision-maker o the organization. 5

2. Organizational Profle

2.1 Name o the organization. 1, 3

2.2 Primary brands, products, and/or services. 13, 14

2.3 O peratio nal struc ture o the organizatio n, including main divisions, operating companies, sub sidiaries, and joint ventures. 12

2.4 Location o organizations headquarters. 12

2.5 Number o countries where the organization operates, and names o countries with either major operations or that are specically

relevant to the sustainability issues covered in the report.

12

2.6 Nature o ownership and legal orm. 4, 11

2.7 Markets served (including geographic breakdown, sectors served, and types o customers/beneciaries). 13

2.8 Scale o the reporting organization. 12, 32, 44

2.9 Signicant changes during the reporting period regarding size, structure, or ownership. 4

2.10 Awards received in the reporting period. 17

3. Report Parameters

3.1 Reporting period (e.g., scal/calendar year) or inormation provided. 9

3.2 Date o most recent previous report (i any). 9

3.3 Reporting cycle (annual, biennial, etc.) 9

3.4 Contact point or questions regarding the report or its contents. 9

3.5 Process or dening report content. 9

3.6 Boundary o the report (e.g., countries, divisions, subsidiaries, leased acilities, joint ventures, suppliers). See GRI Boundary Protocol

or urther guidance.

10

3.7 State any specic l imitations on the scope or boundary o the report (see completeness principle or explanation o scope). 10

3.8 Basis or reporting on joint ventures, subsidiaries, leased acilities, outsourced operations, and other entities that can signicantly

aect comparability rom period to period and/or between organizations.

10

3.10 Explanation o the eect o any re-statements o inormation provided in earlier reports, and the reasons or such re-statement

(e.g.,mergers/acquisitions, change o base years/periods, nature o business, measurement methods).

10

3.11 S ignicant changes rom prev ious reporting per iods in the scope, boundary, or meas urement methods appl ied in the report. 10

3.12 Table ident iying the locat ion o the Standard D isc losures in the re port. 45

4. Governance, Commitments, and Engagement

4.1 Governance structure o the organization, including committees under the highest governance body responsible or specic tasks,

such as setting strategy or organizational oversight.

11, 12

4.2 Indicate whether the Chair o the highest governance body is also an executive ocer. 124.3 For organizations that have a unitary board structure, state the number and gender o members o the highest governance body that

are independent and/or non-executive members.

12

4.4 Mechanisms or shareholders and employees to provide recommendations or direction to the highest governance body. 12

4.14 List o stakeholder groups engaged by the organization. 10

4.15 Basis or ident icat ion and se le ct ion o s take holders with whom to engage. 10

NR: Not Reporting P: Partial


46/49


STANDARD DISCLOSURES PART II: Perormance Indicators

Economic

Indicator Description Reported

Economic perormance

EC1 Direct economic value generated and distributed, including revenues, operating costs, employee compensation, donations and other

community investments, retained earnings, and payments to capital providers and governments.

44-P

EC2 Financial implications and other risks and opportunities or the organizations activities due to climate change. NR

EC3 Coverage o the organizatio ns dened benet p lan o blig ations. NR

EC4 Signicant nancial assistance received rom government. NR

Market presence

EC5 Range o rat ios o standard entry level wage by gender compared to loca l minimum wage at signicant locat ions o ope rat ion. NR

EC6 Policy, practices, and proportion o spending on locally-based suppliers at s ignicant locations o operation. 44

EC7 Procedures or local hiring and proportion o senior management hired rom the local community at s ignicant locations o

operation.

33

Indirect economic impacts

EC8 Development and impact o inrastructure investments and services provided primarily or public benet through commercial,

in-kind, or pro bono engagement.

NR

EC9 Understanding and describing s ignicant indirect economic impacts, including the extent o impacts. NR

Environmental

Materials

EN1 Materials used by weight or volume. NR

EN2 Percentage o materials used that are rec ycled input materials. 24

Energy

EN3 Direct energy consumption by primary energy source. 22

EN4 Indirect energy consumption by primary source. NR

EN5 Energy saved due to conservation and eciency improvements. 22, 23

EN6 Initiatives to provide energy-ecient or renewable energy based products and services, and reductions in energy requirements as a

result o these initiatives.

NR

EN7 I ni tiat ives to reduce indire ct ene rgy cons umption a nd re duct ions achieve d. NR

Water

EN8 Total water withdrawal by source. NR

EN9 Water sources signicantly aected by withdrawal o water. NR

EN10 Percentage and total vo lume o water rec ycled and reused. NR

Biodiversity

EN11 Location and size o land owned, leased, managed in, or adjacent to, protected areas and areas o high biodiversity value outside

protected areas.

NR

EN12 Description o signicant impacts o activities, products, and services on biodiversity in protected areas and areas o high biodiversity

value outside protected areas.

NR

EN13 Habitats protected or restored. NR

EN14 Strategies, current actions, and uture plans or managing impacts on biodiversity. NR

EN15 Number o IUCN Red List species and national conservation list species with habitats in areas aected by operations, by level o

extinction risk.

NR

Emissions, efuents and waste

EN16 Total direc t and indirec t greenhouse g as emissions by weight. 21

EN17 O ther relevant indirec t greenhouse g as emissions by weight. NR

EN18 Initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reductions achieved. 19, 20, 21, 22

EN19 Emissions o ozone- depleting substances by weight. NR

EN20 NOx, SOx, and other signicant air emissions by t ype and weight. NR

NR: Not Reporting P: Partial


47/49


Indicator Description Reported

EN21 Total water discharge by quality and destination. NR

EN22 Total weight o waste by type and disposal method. 22

EN23 Total number and volume o signicant spills. NR

EN24 Weight o transported, imported, exported, or treated waste deemed hazardous under the terms o the Basel Convention Annex I, II,

III, and VIII, and percentage o transported waste shipped internationally.

NR

EN25 Identity, size, protected status, and biodiversity value o water bodies and related habitats signicantly aected by the reporting

organizations discharges o water and runo.

NR

Products and services

EN26 Initiatives to mitigate environmental impacts o products and services, and extent o impact mitigation. 27

EN27 Percentage o products sold and their packaging materials that are reclaimed by category. NR

Compliance

EN28 Monetary value o signicant nes and total number o non-monetary sanctions or non-compliance with environmental laws and

regulations.

NR

Transport

EN29 Signicant environmental impacts o transporting products and other goods and materials used or the organizations operations,

and transporting members o the workorce.

NR

Overall

EN30 Total environmental protection expenditures and investments by type. NR

Social: Labor Practices and Decent Work

Employment

LA1 Total workorce by employment type, employment contract, and region, broken down by gender. 32-P

LA2 Total number and rate o ne

Forbo Flooring Systems Sustainability Report 2012

Documents

Transcript of Forbo Flooring Systems Sustainability Report 2012