Certifications

Certified to recognized standards

We use independent third-party certifications to recognized external standards to demonstrate our robust management of sustainability and ESG topics and support continuous improvement in line with best practice. These certifications include:

• ASI (Aluminium Stewardship Initiative): Our aseptic carton business is ASI Performance Standard certified, all associated SIG production plants are ASI Chain of Custody certified, and all aluminum foil for our aseptic cartons is purchased as ASI certified.
• FSC™ (Forest Stewardship Council™): Chain of Custody certification is in place at all our aseptic and chilled carton production plants, and related sales offices (FSC license code FSC™ C020428). All the paperboard for our cartons is purchased with FSC™ Mix certification¹ – including for our chilled cartons from January 2024.
• GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) recognized standards: All our packaging production plants maintain top level certification with GFSI-recognized standards – such as Brand Reputation Compliance Global Standards (BRCGS) packaging standard, Safe Quality Food (SQF) and Food Safety System Certification (FSSC 22000 – except our chilled carton plant in Taiwan which is currently certified to ISO 22000:2018 and working towards certification to a GFSI-recognized standard).
• ISCC (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) PLUS: Certification to handle ISCC PLUS certified materials is in place at all our aseptic carton production plants, our closure production plant in Switzerland, and two bag-in-box production plants to handle polymers linked to renewable or recycled material via an independently certified mass balance system.
• ISO 14001: ISO 14001 certification for environmental management is in place for SIG globally.
• ISO 14040 and ISO 14044: Independent experts use these standards to carry out ISO-conformant life-cycle assessments of our packaging solutions that are critically reviewed by an independent panel for additional verification.
• ISO 27001: Certification to ISO 27001 for information security management is maintained in China, Germany, and Romania scoping the provision of Information Communication Technology Infrastructure, related applications, data centers, and production operations.
• ISO 45001: Global ISO 45001 certification is maintained for health and safety management for all SIG plants.
• ISO 50001: Certification to ISO 50001 for energy management is maintained at our three aseptic carton production plants in Europe and at our bag-in-box and spouted pouch plant in Eisfeld (Germany).
• ISO 9001: Certification to ISO 9001 for quality management is in place for our aseptic carton production globally, and for some bag-in-box and spouted pouch production plants.
• LEED: Our Middle East and Africa headquarters and Tech Center in Dubai have achieved Platinum LEED certification for sustainable buildings, as has our Tech Center in China. Our second plant in Suzhou (China) and our new plant in Querétaro (Mexico) have achieved Gold.
• SEDEX Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA): SMETA audits are completed on a two-yearly cycle at our 30 production plants, our office sites in Australia and Mexico, and several SIG legal entities in Germany and Switzerland. In 2024, we established a process to bring all our non-production sites into the SEDEX platform to assess their human rights risk as part of a human rights due diligence process. 10 out of these 40 sites were analyzed in 2024 with the remainder to be completed by 2025.

Key business risks related to ESG topics

Our most material ESG risks – including climate-related risks – are integrated into our annual enterprise risk management process, which assesses risks based on potential financial and reputational implications for the business (for further details, see the Enterprise risk management section in our Annual Report). ESG topics are integral to several of the main business risks identified in our latest enterprise risk assessment. Each top risk, including the respective mitigation actions, is owned by a member of the Group Executive Board. Each mitigation action has an owner at Group level who works closely with the respective regional functions to ensure local implementation. For additional details about sustainability and ESG-related risks and opportunities, see Our material topics and our TCFD report.

1 Our cartons use paper-based liquid packaging board, referred to throughout as “paperboard”. SIG uses FSC™ Mix material that allows the mixing of FSC™ certified wood with FSC™ controlled wood and ensures that an equivalent amount of FSC™ certified wood is procured at the beginning of the value chain. SIG FSC™ license number FSC™ C020428.