Sustainability & Ethics
The effective management of health and safety, the environment, human rights and community engagement (collectively called “HSEC”) is essential to growing our business in a sustainable and responsible manner.
Gunvor therefore assigns the highest priority to preserving the health, well-being, human rights and safety of our employees, our customers, and the communities in which we operate; as well as respecting and protecting the environment in the countries with which we do business.
Governance
Our governance framework outlines how Gunvor manages our commitments to HSEC. Integral to this is our Group HSEC policy and our HSEC and Operational Risk expectations, which set out our vision and the standards that we apply, with oversight from our Group HSEC and Operational Risk Committee.
Health & Safety
Personal safety and accountability are at the heart of how Gunvor operates, and we have a responsibility to our employees and contractors to ensure their health and welfare, especially those working at our refineries and other industrial assets.
We have worked with our workforce to develop a set of expectations applicable to all our operating sites, and allowing all entities to work along the same standards.
Environment
Our activities have impact on the environment that assets specifically manage through local and dedicated systems.
Gunvor is measuring emissions across its activities, while seeking ways to reduce CO2, SOx and NOx from our facilities and shipping, and doing so in commercially sensible ways.
We monitor all effluents, in volume and quality and commit to respect all limits to protect waterbodies.
Each exceedance is treated as an incident and investigated as such.
Energy Transition
As a leading global physical commodities trading company, Gunvor Group is inherently equipped to be responsive to market changes, and the company’s success over the last 20 years is based on its ability to do so. While Gunvor has historically focused on the safe and efficient movement of crude oil and oil products, the company has been for more than a decade diversifying into new commodities and strategies in response to shifting markets and opportunities.
Gunvor now commits to both further improve the environmental impact of its current trading portfolio and invest in new sustainable commodities and businesses.
We have established dedicated vehicle, Nyera (Swedish: “New Era”), to formalize non-fossil investments comprising a minimum of 10% of net equity.
We have committed to reduce our Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 40% by 2025.
Financing
In 2018, Gunvor was the first energy commodities trading company to close a sustainability-linked financing in which the interest rate was dependent on the company’s ability to meet sustainability criteria. Per the deal, Gunvor received a discount on its interest rate as sustainability targets were met; had Gunvor underperformed on the sustainability targets, a premium would have been added to the interest rate.
That original facility has been renewed under the same terms. Since then, Gunvor has been working with its banking partners to expand the use of sustainability-linked financing, as well as create innovative financing solutions to promote the trading “transitional” commodities, such as biofuels and natural gas.
Human Rights
Gunvor assigns the highest priority to respecting and promoting human rights across all of our activities. We aim to treat everyone fairly, with respect and dignity and are committed to respecting all internationally recognized human rights. We fully support the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
We have adopted an incremental approach to our management of Human Rights, as initiated in 2018, deploying processes to manage and influence our impact on Human Rights, at all levels of controls.
Community
Whether in our local communities, such as how we have adapted our processes to support those living nearby our German refinery, or more broadly around the world, such as our programs teaching eco-farming in Tanzania, Gunvor has a role to play in promoting sustainable practices.
Gunvor Group’s 8th Sustainability & Ethics Report
Gunvor Group’s 8th Sustainability & Ethics Report, the company’s annual compilation and analysis of developments related to Gunvor’s corporate activities throughout the world. The document covers aspects of how Gunvor manages health, safety, the environment, human rights and community relations, among other areas including transparency, business compliance, and ethics.