HOW HG WORKS WITH ESG
Built on Experience, Driven by Purpose
The crafts industry has historically depended on human and natural resources without always taking long-term sustainability impact into account. We acknowledge that context and are working systematically to do better, both by putting our people first and improving the way we use materials and energy.
The fragmented nature of our industry has often seen smaller, local companies face pressure to focus on immediate business performance over long-term sustainability. As part of HG, local companies gain access to a network, tools and support that make it easier to take a longer view. We set clear expectations, share good practice, and help our companies make sustainable practices a natural part of daily operations.
This approach has become a strength for us, both in attracting new companies to the group and in building trust with customers. Our sustainability efforts are increasingly seen as a competitive advantage, especially in larger national contracts where ESG performance is an important selection criterion.
Leadership and governance
Sustainability is anchored in HG’s leadership and governance structure. The Group Management Team (GMT) sets our group-wide policies, goals and initiatives, with approval, oversight and direction from the Board of Directors (BoD). In early 2025, we further strengthened our ESG work by appointing a group ESG Manager. This role works closely with the leadership team, with a particular focus on implementing our sustainability initiatives in practice, both at group level and across the local companies.
Each country has a dedicated Managing Director, who plays a key role in translating group-level goals into local action. Regional managers and local companies are responsible for their implementation on the ground, supported by clear expectations that help turn our ambition into progress.
Our dedicated team ensures that sustainability is not treated as a separate task but is fully integrated into our broader strategy and leadership priorities.
Our ESG Strategy
At HG, our sustainability work is grounded in the realities of our business. We are a people company and know that our long-term success depends on how we care for people, use resources and manage risk. Not long after HG was established, we conducted a comprehensive materiality analysis to identify which sustainability topics matter most to our employees, customers, owners and the communities we operate in. This analysis confirmed our initial focus areas and laid the foundation for the sustainability work and progress we have made so far.
During 2024, we completed a full double materiality assessment (DMA) in line with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This process confirmed that our priorities remain relevant and helped sharpen our understanding of where HG has the greatest potential to create positive impact, where we face the biggest risks, and how we can best seize new opportunities. It also reinforced the importance of closely integrating these topics into our business strategy, not treating them as something separate.
As a result, we refined our ESG strategy in 2024 to ensure stronger alignment between our material topics, our commercial goals and our daily operations. This updated approach builds on the structure we have had from the start, with three clear sustainability pillars that are supported by specific goals and strategic initiatives. We expand on each of these below.
Empowering our People
Our people are the heart of our business. As a crafts-based group with operations across four countries, our long-term success depends on skilled hands, strong teams and safe, fair workplaces. Since the beginning, we have worked to build a culture based on respect, inclusion and continuous learning, which is shaped by local needs, but is united by shared values.
Our completed DMA confirmed that our own workforce, along with workers in our value chain, are among HG’s most material topics. This has reinforced our belief that focusing on people is not only the right thing to do, but central to our business. It has also helped sharpen our efforts to grow talent, strengthen leadership, support new recruitment and keep our people safe.
As we continue to grow and mature in this field, we are getting more systematic and professional, and our updated ESG strategy reflects this. It includes revised targets and clearer direction and is supported by structures like the HG Academy, our internal training platform. During 2024, 10% of our employees took part in Academy training courses, and we aim to increase this share year-on-year. The HG Academy offers courses across core areas of learning and leadership, with content tailored to roles, translated into multiple languages and delivered in flexible formats that match the realities of our local companies.
At the same time, we continue to prioritize the physical safety of our employees. Our ambition is simple: everyone should come home from work safe and sound, every day. This requires close attention to routines, equipment and culture. During 2024, we carried out 8 safety campaigns to reinforce our attention to safety locally. These focused on raising awareness, strengthening routines and reinforcing our shared responsibility for safe working environments. As a result, we are seeing stronger local ownership of safety practices, and progress towards our goal of reducing lost time injuries.
Our belief is that creating respectful and inclusive workplaces is a shared responsibility. We maintain a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination, harassment and bullying, and we have in place robust channels and policies that enable our employees to report misconduct. Every reported case is taken seriously, and while these issues are never easy, they remind us of the importance of openness, support and clear expectations. Our ambition is to foster fair and respectful workplaces where all our people can thrive.
Together, our efforts are aimed at creating workplaces where people can thrive – today and in the future.
Case Study: Building tomorrow’s craftspeople
Apprentices are a vital part of HG’s future. In 2024, 8% of our total workforce were apprentices, and we are actively working to increase this number every year. Many of our local companies have a long tradition of taking in apprentices, and in several companies, they now make up more than 15% of the total workforce.
The responsibility for apprentices lies with the general managers of each local company. They play a key role in making sure the right structures are in place to support learning, safety and sense of belonging. Many of our companies also have strong ties to local schools and vocational programs, and we are working towards a goal where all our local companies offer proper apprenticeship programs. This is part of our long-term commitment to strengthen recruitment, secure the future of our craft, and give more young people a solid and meaningful start to their careers.
Case study: Restoring, not replacing
During 2024, HG companies renovated over 35,000 square meters of flooring using the Dr. Schutz sustainable flooring solution. This solution allows worn vinyl and linoleum floors to be deep cleaned, repaired, and sealed with a hard-wearing coating. For customers, it offers a surface that looks and performs like new, without the need to tear up and replace the floor.
This approach reduces waste typically generated in renovation projects, it cuts down emissions from transport and manufacturing of new materials, and saves on both water and electricity use. Several of our companies now offer this service as a standard, and more are adopting it after seeing the environmental and commercial benefits it provides. For many customers, it’s an easy switch that makes a big difference.
Crafting a Responsible Future
We believe that doing business the right way makes us a better company. Over the past year, we have taken important steps to deepen our sustainability work across the group. That means clearer priorities, stronger systems, and better tools to follow through on our commitments, both to our people, to the environment, and to the communities we’re part of.
Through our progress, we have also raised our own expectations. ESG is not something we layer on top of the business; it’s an essential part of how we work. That includes how we train and support our people, how we approach our suppliers, how we make decisions, and how we plan ahead. We want to be a company that not only does the job well but does it in a way that holds up over time.
We are proud of the craft-based culture we come from, and we want to show that quality and responsibility go hand in hand. There’s more to do, but we are not standing still. With every step we take, our mission is clear: we’re building a stronger, more resilient business. One that values our people, takes care of our planet and acts with integrity in every decision. That commitment is not new, but the way we work with it is changing and evolving. This is about building something solid and lasting, and we approach sustainability in the same way we do our crafts – with sense of ownership, care and professionalism.
We are proud craftspeople leading the way.
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