Grainger, the largest broad-line distributor serving businesses and institutions, mostly in North America, Japan, and the UK, announced today its 2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report. Since 2012, Grainger has been putting out its ESG report, which used to be called the Corporate Social Responsibility Report. Grainger is still a leader among industrial distributors in this area.

"We are pleased to share our recent ESG Report to mark the progress on our key initiatives that impact our environment, team members and society,"

said DG Macpherson, Grainger Chairman and CEO.

"I'd like to thank our team members, partners and suppliers who work each day to strengthen our customers and our communities."

Highlights of the report, which covers the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, includes Grainger's commitment to our team members, our increased focus on diversity, equity and inclusion of the workforce, continued community investments and continued focus on sustainable supply chain operations.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Within Grainger's U.S. workforce, approximately 39 percent of team members were women and 34 percent were women in leadership positions. Grainger's U.S. workforce was also comprised of 37 percent racially and ethnically diverse team members, and 24 percent racially and ethnically diverse leaders. As discussed in the ESG Report, the company has implemented enhanced processes and team member trainings to reduce bias in recruiting, interviewing and hiring.

Community Impact. Team members spent 10,400 hours volunteering and the company donated $96 million in cash and product donations to nonprofits highlighting the ongoing commitment to give back to our communities. In addition, a new community impact strategy has been implemented to ensure our programs reflect and support the diversity of our team member population and customer base.

Supplier Diversity. Grainger's processes support ethical sourcing of products, supplies and services and supplier diversity and engagement. In 2021, the company engaged with over 680 minority-, woman-, veteran-, disabled-person-, and LGBTQ-owned business for goods and services.

Sustainability. With approximately 100,000 environmentally preferable products, Grainger is a great partner in helping customers achieve their sustainability goals. To help reduce freight cost and packaging impact, the company utilizes right-size packaging technology and strives to 'ship complete' as an advantage to the customer and the environment.  

It is a key priority that ethics and integrity is woven into all parts of the business. Grainger is proud to report 100 percent of company team members completed business conduct guidelines training showing our commitment to ethics and integrity in everything we do.

Other report highlights include:

An updated materiality matrix reflecting the shared priorities of our customers, suppliers, investors, community partners and team members

Distribution centers achieved 92% recycling rate

North American facilities have more than 7 million square feet of LEED certified space

Grainger has a 'AAA' risk rating from MSCI and is a Sustainalytics top-rated ESG company demonstrating industry-leading risk management

Grainger commits to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 emissions by 30 percent by 2030

To learn more about Grainger's ESG Report, visit www.GraingerESG.com.

W.W. Grainger, Inc., with 2021 sales of $13.0 billion, is a leading broad-line distributor with operations primarily in North America, Japan and the United Kingdom. Grainger achieves its purpose, We Keep the World Working®, by serving more than 4.5 million customers worldwide with a wide range of product categories that keep customer operations running and their people safe. The Company also delivers services and solutions, such as technical support and inventory management, to provide tangible value and save customers time and money. Grainger offers more than 2 million maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) products in its High-Touch Solutions assortment and more than 30 million products through its expanding Endless Assortment offering. For more information, visit www.grainger.com.

Source: Grainger news