Specsavers states that its mission is to ‘change lives through better sight and hearing’, and the family-owned business is backing that commitment with a range of science-based targets, including a pledge to achieve net-zero emissions across its value chain by 2050, alongside goals to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% and Scope 3 emissions by 25% by 2030.
Jennifer Wakely took on the role of global ESG reporting lead at the optician and audiology specialist last year, having previously held a variety of sustainability leadership roles at Dyson. At the recent Reuters Events Sustainability Data & Reporting Europe event in London, Wakely took part in a panel discussion on how businesses can build sustainability reporting frameworks that can adapt to changing political and regulatory conditions.
SustainabilityOnline caught up with her on the sidelines of that event – we started by asking her what sustainability looks like from a Specsavers perspective.
“I think it’s an interesting question, because Specsavers as an organisation is purpose-led, and it exists to improve people’s lives,” she says. “So that social impact piece is integral to the business. “Actually, that’s something that was really refreshing about joining Specsavers – how much senior management really believe in it.”
Sustainability focus
Specsavers’ approach to sustainability is structured around three areas – people, planet and communities – which in turn is connected with business performance through employee engagement, operational improvements and product innovation.
“Something that we’re actively doing is really investing in learning and development, with a focus on sustainability for all employees,” she says. “Whether that’s senior leaders who have a specific sustainability module, retail staff in stores, or supply chain teams making decisions, we want sustainability thinking embedded throughout the organisation.”
From an operational perspective, Specsavers uses pilot projects to demonstrate the financial benefits of measures such as energy efficiency and renewable electricity procurement, “so that we can demonstrate that the sustainable choice also has a financial benefit or delivers a return on investment,” she adds.
On the product side, meanwhile, the company is increasing the use of sustainable materials in its products, while also encouraging circularity – Wakely cites a product take-back campaign in Australia, which led to returns rising by more than 30%.
“Being able to measure and demonstrate results is really important,” she says. “It helps ensure you can continue to build the business case internally, while showing that sustainable choices are also delivering a commercial benefit.”
Reporting requirements
When it comes to sustainability reporting, Specsavers has learned the importance of flexibility – “we came up with a very detailed plan that was linked very closely to CSRD, and then had to roll that back when things changed,” says Wakley – while also having to manage requirements across multiple jurisdictions.
Rather than building plans around individual regulations, the company focuses on broader regulatory trends and the long-term direction of sustainability disclosure requirements.
“This enables us to look more closely at the overall trends in the regulatory space, and whether those regulations impact Specsavers, or are likely to do so in the future,” she adds. “It enables us to assess the direction of travel and identify what other sustainability drivers are out there.
“So, if we zoom out and look at those things together, overlaying our double materiality assessment onto them, that helps us prioritise. These are the areas we want to focus on. This is where we want to collect data. This is where we want to share stories.
“But at the same time, we’re trying to keep it modular and layered, so we can switch things on when we need to.”
Elsewhere, Specsavers has employed a carbon accounting platform to collect, organise and analyse emissions data across different business entities and reporting needs. This has led the firm to publish a voluntary sustainability report, set for release later this year, which will be informed by European Sustainability Reporting Standards and the company’s double materiality assessment.
“It’s not going to be fully CSRD compliant, instead we’re positioning it ‘in the spirit of CSRD’, ” Wakely adds. “It will enable us to assess the positives and negatives, the impacts and the risks, and then we can incrementally expand that reporting over time.”
Purchased goods and services is “by far” the biggest contributor to Scope 3 emissions at Specsavers, and a recently-updated supplier reporting platform, which includes increased functionality for supplier engagement and data collection, will help to identify specific areas for improvement.
“Once we get that data in, we can see the whole picture,” she says. “For example, we’ve had to make lots of assumptions about what electricity type our suppliers are using. Once we know that, say, five of our top 20 suppliers are well placed to switch to renewable electricity, that would make a huge impact. And that’s what we’ll try to influence.”
Material approach
Elsewhere, Specsavers is making progress towards its target of having all glasses frame materials – excluding screws, arms and nose pads – sourced from recycled or bio-based content by 2030.
“We’re doing really well against that target,” says Wakely. “To a large degree, it’s something we can control, because we set the design, we set the spec, and we can determine the materials to be used. So there’s less barriers to making progress there.
“If you start to look at other elements of frames, or at hearing aids and things like that, there are bigger challenges to face. Hearing aids, for example, along with contact lenses, are classed as a medical device, so there are certain quality constraints over the use of certain materials. But it’s certainly an area that we’re focused on.”
Looking further ahead, Wakley expects Specsavers’ sustainability reporting approach to become more focused on material issues, decision-useful information and quality of data, particularly on the back of the recent EU Omnibus report.
“To the point I made earlier, it’s about zooming out from what each of the specific regulations says and looking at what’s material, what information is decision-useful, and what data is either available and of good quality or something that we really need to create,” she says.
“It’s about creating a sensible, flexible, but also proportionate plan, because we don’t want to overinvest in something that isn’t required.”
Learn more about Specsavers’ sustainability commitments here.
