Message from the CEO

Dear readers,

We care is the first of five corporate values we introduced this year, a commitment proudly displayed at Sonova workplaces worldwide: “We care for our employees, customers and consumers, as well as our shareholders and society.” Caring for stakeholders, delivering on our commitments, and taking responsibility: these principles guide our daily actions in “normal” times, and yet more so during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic that has impacted the last weeks of the past financial year.

With all the challenges that this crisis brought to the world, it also showed clearly whether corporate responsibility is just a statement, or truly rooted in an organization. Sonova’s first and foremost priority in the response to COVID-19 has been to protect the health and safety of our employees and their families, as well as our customers, consumers and partners. We have taken accountability as a global company, helping to limit further spread of this virus to the best of our abilities, whilst ensuring continued access to hearing care for people in need. We have supported all our stakeholders in navigating through these challenging times, whilst also taking proactive steps to safeguard Sonova’s financial health, maintain employment, and secure sustainable operations. In this crisis and thereafter.

As a leading hearing care company, Sonova has both a duty to conduct business in a responsible manner, along its whole supply chain, and an ability to make a positive impact on society. Our integrated Corporate Responsibility (CR) program closely aligns with our long-term business strategy and objectives and is endorsed at every level of the company.

The CR program focuses on five key areas: access to hearing care; responsible products and services; ethics, risk and compliance; investment in people; and safeguarding the environment. This Corporate Responsibility Report is therefore clustered along these five topics. In each section, you will learn more about our strategic approach, performance and, where relevant, our specific actions in response to the global COVID-19 crisis.

And we are particularly proud to share some environmental, social and governance (ESG) highlights of the past year: the results of our employee engagement survey – now in its second year – showed that 83% of respondents are feeling engaged through their work here at Sonova. We have further strengthened our culture of integrity with an update of our global Code of Conduct and made it even easier to raise concerns through our global “Speak Up!” channels. We have also seen substantial progress toward achieving our group-wide environmental targets and reduced our carbon emissions intensity by 11% through efficiency measures and increased use of renewable energy.

We are proud that our efforts continue to be recognized by a number of relevant organizations in the field, including the internationally recognized Dow Jones Sustainability and FTSE4Good indices. For the second year in a row, Sonova received an ‘A-’ leadership level ranking from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), recognizing our environmental transparency and actions to address climate change.

Sonova has been a signatory of the UN Global Compact since 2016 and fully endorses its ten principles governing human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption. We also support the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, which define the global sustainable development agenda through to 2030.

In the next year, we will continue on our sustainable journey, taking even more steps to embed our CR commitment across all dimensions of the business. As part of this journey we aim for a more formal reflection of business relevant ESG targets in the variable cash compensation of leadership, including for each member of the Sonova Management Board. There is still a lot more opportunity to improve our contributions to sustainability. Now more than ever, we have the chance to show that we live up to our values that we truly care for a sustainable future.

Sincerely,

Arnd Kaldowski
Chief Executive Officer