Being a responsible business means balancing the needs and expectations of society with our commitments to our business and our stakeholders. To prioritise our efforts, we engage with our stakeholders to identify materiality issues. We also rely on our Responsibility & Sustainability Charter to guide us in our responsible business practices.
"At Airbus, we're committed to applying strong principles to how we conduct our business and to challenging ourselves to go further in mitigating our environmental impact because we believe we can, and should, raise the bar on what’s possible in sustainability in our industry."
Guillaume Faury, CEO Airbus
We use a materiality assessment—the first of which was conducted in 2017—to prioritise our top environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. The materiality assessment was updated in 2019, following recommendations from the GRI Standards. The process captured the voice of the following 12 key stakeholders groups:
These key groups identified environmentally responsible products, product quality and responsibility, and health and safety as the most significant and relevant topics.
The results of our materiality assessment offer us a clear roadmap and overview of the key material issues impacting our business. We regularly conduct this assessment to define the strategic direction required to conduct our day-to-day work in an informed manner.
The Airbus Responsibility & Sustainability Charter is a testament to our commitment to responsible practices, our company values, the UN Global Compact and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Charter has nine underlying commitments, which are set against the eight UN SDGs to which we are actively contributing. It serves as our framework for how we intend to work with our stakeholders to contribute to the needs of society.