Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
"For us, sustainable management and corporate responsibility in social and ecological terms are not just lip service, but have been a daily reality for many years."
Günther Köfler, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), SWARCO AG
Our definition of CSR
CSR is based on our companies' commitment to manage the impact of their operations on society, the economy and the environment, while meeting stakeholders' expectations. This commitment is based on ethical behaviour, cooperation, trust and transparency, which contributes to sustainable and innovative development that goes beyond laws and standards.
CSR as part of our DNA
Sustainable and energy- and resource-saving action has been laid in our genes. As early as 1969, SWARCO founder Manfred Swarovski recognised the potential of broken flat glass, which, when rounded into micro glass beads, could be converted into a road safety product and make road markings visible at night. This was at a time when words like recycling or upcycling were not yet on everyone's lips.
We were the first to bring the energy-efficient light source LED to market in traffic lights and variable message signs back in the 1990s. True to our guiding principle of improving the quality of life by making travel safer, faster, more comfortable and more environmentally friendly, our software solutions in urban and interurban traffic management contribute to optimised traffic flow and help reduce emissions and avoid congestion and accidents. This positively supports the environmental balance of our business partners.
It was also the entrepreneur Manfred Swarovski who recognised early on that you can only have lasting success if you think not only of yourself, but also of others. For us, entrepreneurship therefore also means social responsibility for employees and for society in general. As a good corporate citizen, SWARCO gives part of its business success back to society, including in the form of support for social initiatives, promotion of university education and cooperation, health promotion and as a sponsor of sports and international industry events.
What are our priorities?
As part of a professionally supervised materiality analysis according to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, we have identified and prioritised 6 areas on which we will focus in the future:
1
Energy and emissions
2
Employee satisfaction
3
Product safety and quality
4
Road safety
5
Optimised traffic flow
6
Ecological and circular product design
These 6 topics are of particular importance to SWARCO in terms of their financial impact and sustainability impact.
Group-wide coordination
In order to give structure to the topics of ESG and CSR in the SWARCO Group and also to develop them strategically, the position of "Head of Corporate Social Responsibility SWARCO Group" was created and filled with an experienced manager:
Dipl.-Ing. Daniel Meier
Head of Corporate Social Responsibility SWARCO Group
T. +43-5224-5877-41
E. csr@swarco.com
Mr. Meier also heads SWARCO ECO-TEC GmbH, which specialises in the collection and recycling of waste glass in Tyrol as part of the Austria Glas Recycling-System (AGR).
Sustainability report now
Welcome to SWARCO’s first Sustainability Report! It gives you insights in what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability mean for an Austrian-based leading global player in traffic technology.
Our focus is not only on fulfilling predefined Environment-Social-Governance (ESG) guidelines. We also want to do more voluntarily in certain areas and take our social responsibility seriously. Therefore, we continue to use the collective term Corporate Social Responsibility for all our
sustainability topics.
We wish you interesting reading with our first report of this kind.
