The SPAR Group Limited is the latest addition to the list of JSE listed companies using the GCX Analytics Dashboard. The Group is an international food retailer with operations in Southern Africa, the United Kingdom, Poland and Switzerland. The SPAR Group controls a diverse portfolio of brands and has adopted a voluntary trading model when it comes to its stores.
The SPAR Group have an established sustainability team, who have been spearheading the group’s sustainability action. They have established the “My SPAR, Our Tomorrow” sustainability policy, which focuses on health, community, sourcing, environment and people as well as their sustainability pledge which outlines the group’s contribution to societal change, responsible living, opportunity creation and resource stewardship. In line with this pledge, SPAR not only responds to the CDP Climate but also to the CDP Forestry and Water Disclosure, being one of the few South African companies disclosing all three. Along with their disclosures, the Group are also constituents of the FTSE4Good ESG index, which measures their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance.
SPAR has aligned itself with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and as such has established both environmental and climate goals in line with the SDGs. In order for these targets to be met and tracked, SPAR realised the need for comprehensive and accurate data. Having independently owned operations brings with it challenges in data management due to the ownership and autonomy of each independent retailer. The ultimate goal is to get all SPAR stores onto the GCX Analytics dashboard for comprehensive reporting.
For the moment GCX will be focusing on the South African portfolio of The SPAR Group that is under corporate control. This includes its seven distribution centres across South Africa and 57 corporate-owned stores. GCX is going to work with SPAR to improve its data quality and confidence across this portfolio so that SPAR can confidently meet and report on its ambitious goals. This is the point of departure for SPAR and GCX with the ability to work in packaging monitoring analytics and the full suite of ESG metrics and swing factors.
The GCX way of operating with our clients is having a project champion at the helm to work on the client’s side to be our one point of contact. At SPAR, Chloe Karstadt is our designated champion. Working as the sustainability specialist at SPAR. We will be working with her to help The SPAR Group meet their sustainability goals.
“The SPAR Group has set ambitious targets to become an organisation of the future. In order to meet our environmental and climate goals and targets, we need to have accurate and reliable data to enable better decisions. The GCX system is already set up to accurately report on our desired outcomes as well as present the opportunity to increase the number of outputs reported on while reducing manhours required for monitoring and consolidating of this data. The GCX team has vast experience in the carbon footprint and ESG reporting sector, enabling us to better respond to our stakeholders.”
Chloe Karstadt, Sustainability Specialist, The SPAR Group Limited
Need help to navigate and make sense of sustainability in your business? GCX can help. Get in touch with us for a demo or a chat to discuss your needs.
