Wincanton Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Policy Statement

We aspire to be a truly sustainable company and to achieve this we recognise the need to meet the Environmental, Social and Governance expectations of our stakeholders.

Wincanton believes in the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact and commits to adhere to them as the basis of our responsible business programme. Specifically,

• We support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights and will not be complicit in human rights abuses.
• We uphold freedom of association; recognise the right to collective bargaining; and will strive for the elimination of all forms of forced, compulsory and child labour and any discrimination in employment and occupation. We have a separate Modern Slavery statement which sets out our commitments in this area.
• We support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges; take responsibility for our environmental impacts and strive to develop and deploy technologies and practices that improve our environmental performance.
• We will work against corruption in any form and have an Anti-Bribery and Corruption policy which sets out our actions to detect and eliminate, where applicable.

These commitments are embedded in our code of conduct, and the specific subject matter policies and systems with which we manage our activities and engage our colleagues.

Wincanton supports the achievement of all the United Nations sustainable development
goals (SDGs) and the associated targets. In our business sectors we will strive to make progress against those SDGs where we can have a direct, positive material impact in the regions in which we operate.

We promote good health and wellbeing through a pioneering Health and Safety programme, principles and policy; a wellbeing charter and programmes to support colleagues with their physical and mental health and wellbeing; partnerships to help us promote good mental health; Community engagement at our locations; and corporate partnerships to deliver wellbeing programmes in the UK and internationally.

We have an extensive apprenticeship programme; a work placement and graduate scheme; and the Wincanton Academy for continuing professional development. We maintain an operational training programme covering all aspects of supply chain expertise e.g. HGV and MHE driving; and access to professional qualifications which may be gained internally or with professional institutions such as CILT, IEMA or IOSH.

We are a company that aspires and works proactively to achieve a diverse work force across all levels of our business, from board and management teams to our operational colleagues. Our diversity and inclusion strategy aims to increase the representation of women and under-represented groups in supply chain roles at all levels and is designed to give everyone the opportunity to realise a fulfilling career in the supply chain sector.

Wincanton’s responsible business policies are designed to deliver fairness to all and a workplace to thrive in. Our inclusion programme encourages all to shine and develop and our W2 Innovation programme brings forward new, sustainable supply chain solutions for our customers, driving their growth and ours. For our value chain, we require our suppliers to have effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in their business, we vet them to ensure this is the case.

We aim to minimise the use of fuels and energy and move to renewable fuels to largely eliminate carbon and air quality emissions at the earliest feasible date. We are moving to a circular, zero-waste approach to materials use, particularly packaging. We aim to significantly increase recycling rates from residual waste and eliminate single-use, non-packaging plastic and unrecyclable waste by 2030.

Climate risk is a principal business risk for Wincanton. We aim to achieve net zero carbon emissions for all of our operations by 2040; and present evolving, long-term, net zero carbon solutions to each of our customers, within the context of net zero roadmaps for transport, warehousing and infrastructure.

We plan to shape low and zero-carbon technology deployment by early engagement with developers and policy makers and through technology demonstration projects in collaboration with our customers and partners.

We will continue to achieve zero enforcement actions for pollution events through certified environmental management systems, regulatory compliance and effective incident management.

We will minimise the use of environmentally persistent materials in our value chains; and aim to prevent the escape of waste into the environment.

Wincanton will utilise sensitive landscaping, planting and wildlife management to increase biodiversity on our sites; and invest in authentic carbon offset projects to further enhance natural biodiversity

and improved social and community outcomes in the UK and internationally through our “Wincanton Woodland” programme.

Our Board is accountable for the delivery and success of our ESG strategy. To support them a “Corporate Framework” has been developed to ensure performance is monitored and managed by the Board and Executive Management Team.

Through our stringent management processes, we are continuously reviewing and assessing our approach to sustainability, and ensuring we are responding to the issues that matter to our stakeholders. We will establish, where necessary, further programmes to deliver improvements in the areas we have committed to.

We have also introduced sustainability targets across our senior management performance reviews, to incentivise sustainability across their teams.

We have set the necessary measures and targets to manage our ESG performance and ensure transparent and consistent reporting, against standardised measurement systems where possible, ensuring we sustain our ESG commitments over the long term.

James Wroath
Chief Executive Officer