2025 Corporate Social Responsibility Plan
Building Our Future
We are the actors of our past, our present and our future.
At TC Transcontinental, we believe in building a lasting company and to pass on the legacy of a solid, responsible corporate citizen. It is important for us to challenge the status quo, to look forward, and to take action to create long-term value for our company, our industry and our stakeholders.
“As a second-generation family business, we are committed to building for sustainability. With this new 2025 CSR plan in hand and in light of our past achievements, we will be able to deepen the initiatives that are close to our hearts and put into practice the values that drive us”.
“We have a leadership role to play in environmental matters, by tackling climate change and focusing on our manufacturing excellence. This naturally encompasses our “zero injury” vision, the objective of which is to ensure the occupational health and safety of our employees at all times”.
“Corporate social responsibility is no longer a siloed initiative, separated from corporate strategy. CSR is part of our strategy, mobilizes all our teams and creates a solid bond of trust with our customers, our investors, and our communities”.
Our Horizon 2025
Supported by our strong values and our corporate culture, we want to design a future that is green, inclusive, safe, innovative, sustainable, united, and responsible. Looking ahead to 2025, we have set ambitious goals articulated around five main themes.
Since 2020 we have aligned our CSR objectives with those of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Of the 17 goals established that are part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we are contributing to 9 of them.
OUR COMMITMENT TO OUR STAKEHOLDERS
Our stakeholders’ contribution is integral to our approach and to our continuity. We believe in building long-term relationships with our stakeholders to better understand their concerns and expectations of us.
Thus, in order to anchor our CSR strategy around relevant ESG issues for TC Transcontinental, we turned to our stakeholders to perform a rigorous and detailed materiality assessment in 2021.
We put in place a large-scale stakeholder consultation program sent to our 8,000 employees as well as nearly 150 external stakeholders. The information collected and an internal relevance analysis then enabled us to identify 12 priority ESG themes for our organization.
2021 Materiality Matrix Results
2021 Materiality Matrix
- 1Employee health, safety, and well-being
- 2Innovation and sustainable product development
- 3Circular economy
- 4Climate change
- 5Data security and privacy
- 6Business ethics and compliance
- 7Talent attraction and retention
- 8Food safety and product quality
- 9Environmental compliance
- 10Diversity and inclusion
- 11Enterprise risk management
- 12Energy use
- 13Employee training and development
- 14Human rights
- 15Supply chain transparency
- 16Community impact and philanthropy
- 17Operational waste management
- 18Transportation and distribution
- 19Food waste
- 20Sustainable forestry
- 21Water consumption
OUR 2025 ACTION PLAN
Following the materiality analysis, we have identified priority issues in CSR and grouped them under five strategic themes around which ambitious initiatives and targets have been developed.
Pillar 1
Greener growth
We are committed to taking the necessary steps to contribute to the ecological transition that is already well under way. We recognize that economic growth must be dissociated from the excessive consumption of natural resources and be part of a process of reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). To this end, we rely on our expertise in manufacturing excellence and our culture of continuous improvement to reduce the environmental impact of our operations.
|
Theme |
Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Waste management |
Recover all non-hazardous operational waste |
100% |
| Greenhouse gas emissions |
Reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms1 |
10% |
|
Publish a longer-term GHG reduction roadmap aligned with the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) by the end of 2023 |
SBTi commitment |
1. From baseline year 2021. Refers to absolute Scope 1 (direct emissions from clean or controlled sources) and Scope 2 (indirect emissions from purchased energy generation) emissions. We also measure our GHG emissions in relative intensity, which corresponds to a 21% reduction in our GHG emissions based on annual production volume.
Pillar 2
An inclusive and safe environment
More than ever, we must place people at the heart of our concerns and promote the development and well-being of our employees. Our ambition is to provide a healthy, safe, and inclusive work environment that allows our employees to develop and guarantees them equitable access to career opportunities.
|
Theme |
Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
|
Health and security |
Reduce our Incident Frequency Rate (IFR) each year as we pursue our goal of “zero injury”2 |
3% |
|
Diversity and Inclusion |
Maintain female representation on the Board of Directors |
35% |
|
Increase the proportion of women at Executive Committee level3 |
35% |
|
|
Increase the proportion of women in management positions |
35% |
|
|
Increase the ethnic diversity of front-line supervisors4 |
|
|
|
Foster a culture of inclusion through True Colors, our initiative dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community and its allies |
|
|
| Talent |
Ensure that all critical positions have an identified successor (1-3 years) |
100% |
2. Annual target
3. Is defined as reporting directly to the President and CEO or who is a member of the executive team.
4. This target only applies to specifically identified sites.
Pillar 3
Innovative and sustainable products
We have the ambitious vision that our packaging and printed products should never become waste. From sourcing to the end of life of our products, we take care to adopt a circular approach at each stage of their design. Beyond our own research and development activities, we collaborate with key players in the ecosystem to build a truly circular economy and improve recycling and composting infrastructures.
|
Theme |
Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
|
Paper procurement |
Sourcing paper from third-party certified or recycled sources5 |
100% |
|
Circular economy – plastic |
Achieve an average usage rate of post-consumer recycled content by weight for all plastic packaging in our product portfolio6 |
10%
|
|
Aim for all our plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable6 |
100% |
5. Annual target
6. 2025 target
Pillar 4
United with our communities
We are present in all the local communities in which we live and work. Through our long-standing involvement, we want to invest primarily in the areas of education, health, and local communities. This committment, from the company as well as from our employees, allows us to have a positive impact and to participate in the development of stronger and more united communities.
|
Theme |
Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
|
Local commitment |
Invest in our communities near our sites through our employee engagement program “$ for Doers” |
|
|
Donations |
Provide a cumulative sum to our communities in the form of donations and sponsorships |
$5M |
Pillar 5
Governance and responsible business practices
In order to address several of the material ESG issues identified during the materiality assessment, various initiatives and programs are initiated within the organization. These are intrinsically linked to the day-to-day operations of our business and ensure that we act responsibly in accordance with the highest standards and best business practices. We believe that these practices make it possible to create a solid and resilient company and are all key to creating long-term value.
|
Theme |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Responsible Procurement |
Integrate ESG criteria into our sourcing process as we roll out our responsible sourcing program |
|
Data Security |
Conduct a comprehensive assessment of data protection and security programs Develop a roadmap, including policies, training, and controls, to ensure better protection and prevention of data leaks |
| Food safety and quality |
Maintain relevant food safety certifications, ensuring to our customers the integrity and quality of their products |
| Business Ethics and Compliance |
Ensure that our employees7 read and sign the Code of Ethics upon hiring, in all our offices Develop and provide anti-corruption training to our employees, according on their role |
| Enterprise Risk Management |
Annually review the Enterprise Risk Management program, including ESG risks and risks related to climate change, and have it approved by the Board of Directors or one of its committees. |
7. Non-unionized employees only
Partnerships and recognitions
Meeting sustainability challenges requires collaboration across the entire value chain. We have established rich relationships over the years with our esteemed partners and are very proud of our performance within many recognized rankings. As we move forward on corporate social responsibility, we continue to develop new strategic partnerships to work towards a more sustainable future.
