SUSTAINABILITY
SUSTAINABILITY & ESG
The recent United Nations Conference of the Parties (COPs), the latest IPCC report and increasingly frequent natural disasters, have shown that a level of urgency is required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. The three major influencers for change: the government (regulatory), and the business and finance sectors, are stepping up in various ways to leverage change.
At ArrowResources, we work to stay ahead of regulatory developments and enhance the ESG performance of our activities. We aim to surpass the expectations and requirements of our customers and financiers by partnering with them and our principal suppliers, to identify and deliver on opportunities that enhance sustainable performance in all areas of environmental and social governance within the value chain applicable to us.
UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL COMPACT & ESG RATING
At ArrowResources, we believe that performance and transparency in ESG are paramount to gaining the trust and respect of our stakeholders, and to managing the risks that may be linked to our business.
As a supporting participant of the United Nations Global Compact, we make ourselves publicly accountable for aligning our business strategies and operations with the Compact’s Ten Principles on human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption. This facilitates the advancement of broader societal goals, such as the UN SDGs, which in turn enhances collaboration and innovation.
To facilitate ESG and sustainability management systems, and to communicate the continual improvements of our sustainability journey, ArrowMetals & Trading AG has partnered with the internationally reputed ESG rating agency EcoVadis® to obtain ESG ratings to help drive and further develop our sustainable performance.
ArrowMetals & Trading AG is pleased to have achieved the Gold Medal level for its 2023 EcoVadis ESG Rating assessment, placing us in the top 1% of all sustainable performing companies audited and rated by EcoVadis, and in the top 1% for the sustainable procurement management for the trading and wholesale of metals and metal ores.
GOVERNANCE
To demonstrate our commitments, and to respond to fulfilling the UN Global Compact’s reporting criteria and ESG Rating audit assessments, ArrowResources governs the environmental and social aspects of its activities through its Board-approved policies, standards and management systems.
These include:
- Labour & Human Rights Policy
- Environment Policy
- Health & Safety Policy
- ESG Policy
- Know Your Counterparty (KYC) Policy
- Conflict Minerals Policy
- Responsible Sourcing &
- Supply Chain Standard
- Supplier Code of Conduct
To consult ArrowResources’ policies and standards, please visit our Resource Centre.
LABOUR & HUMAN RIGHTS
ArrowResources is committed to protecting the world’s human capital. We understand the importance of ESG to diligently maintain high social operational standards and to anticipate and mitigate the potential risks associated with our business in this regard.
We are committed to undertaking our business activities with integrity and transparency and continually strive to improve our sustainability journey on labour and human rights issues.
We ensure regulatory compliance in all aspects of our work, through effective governance, enforcing business ethics and codes of conduct, and managing the social performance throughout our supply chain.
As an office-based commodity trading house, much of our ESG-related work is linked to the activities and operations of our principal suppliers. We strive to develop and facilitate:
our commitment to responsible sourcing
stakeholder engagement for sustainable procurement
high standards of health, safety, environmental and community relations (HSEC) performance of our principal suppliers, partners, and supply chain
projects that embed the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into our supply chain, by collaborating and partnering with our key suppliers, relevant organisations and other stakeholders to continually improve sustainable performance
ENVIRONMENT
ArrowResources is committed to protecting the world’s human capital by transparently undertaking its business activities across all sectors responsibly. We continually strive to further our environmental performance as aligned with our ESG-related Policies and by closely working with our suppliers and other external stakeholders.
ArrowResources complies with and requires its suppliers to comply with, national and international laws for the protection of the environment.
Environmental goals are achieved through ISO14001:2015 certification of our key suppliers, and by adopting recognised international standards and implementing elements of these standards where appropriate, such as:
- Swiss Ordinances & EU Directives on environmental management
- Swiss & EU environmental disclosures and reporting standards
(ISSB/CSRD – ESRS & IFRS) - Environmentally-related UN Sustainable Development Goals
- The Greenhouse Gas Protocol and ISO14067:2018 to move forward in achieving SDG 13 – Climate Action
- The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
- IFC Performance Standards & Stakeholder Engagement Good Practice
- Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance
- OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas
- ISO20400 – Sustainable Procurement Guidance
We continuously work with our supply chain to integrate environmental performance aspects into their management systems to align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals applicable to them.
CARBON ACCOUNTING
SDG 13 – Climate Action is arguably the most relevant sustainability goal today and is especially relevant to the commodity trading sector which makes up 20-30% of global GHG emissions.
To “know our carbon” and to complement our Life-cycle Analysis assessments, ArrowResources has partnered with the company CarbonChain® to gain granularity on the carbon emissions associated with our principal suppliers of nickel products and in a second stage, over the company’s entire trade portfolio. Data from these assessments contribute to calculating the carbon intensities of the products that we trade. The assessment results are reported through Product Carbon Footprint – PCF reports. The PCFs comply with the GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard and ISO14067:2018 Greenhouse gasses – Carbon footprint of products – Requirements and guidelines for quantification.
CarbonChain’s analysis and reporting are subject to stringent QA/QC procedures and are accredited by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), making our GHG emissions disclosures and reporting trustworthy and auditable.
This initiative allows the company to respond to regulatory requirements such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the requirements of our customers and other stakeholders, and to assist our industrial suppliers to target areas that need more focus for the reduction of GHGs in their industrial processes.
LIFE-CYCLE ANALYSIS (LCA)
As many of the products we source and trade are linked to mining and the pyro- and hydro-metallurgical industries, notably ferronickel and nickel sulphate, ArrowResources has conducted life-cycle analysis assessments of these products to understand the Global Warming Potential (carbon intensities) associated with them, i.e., kg CO2 eq. / tonne. The data derived from carbon accounting exercises are used to obtain the most granular (representative) carbon emissions assessment results.
Our LCA assessments are carried out by leading European specialists and are certified by TÜV Rheinland.
