Assent Inc. (Assent), a leader in supply chain sustainability management, released its 2021 sustainability report, which summarizes the latest achievements of its economic, environmental, and social performance. The report, titled “Driving Supply Chain Sustainability,” also outlines the steps the company unveiled in 2021 as part of its transition to a formal environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy and program.
In 2021, Assent, one of only a handful of North American software as a service (SaaS)/Cloud native sustainability platform companies that hold “advanced status” with the United Nations Global Compact, expanded its focus on stakeholder engagement and began a materiality assessment that will form the basis of its corporate sustainability strategy. The company sought the perspectives of an extensive range of stakeholders, including team members, shareholders, customers, and supply chain partners, and started a materiality assessment to inform its future sustainability commitments and approach.
“In today’s market, you can’t be a CEO without thinking about ESG as investors now require the same due diligence in sustainability transparency as they do for financial transparency, and customers expect the same,” said Andrew Waitman, CEO of Assent. “This is why we doubled down on our ESG efforts in 2021, both in our internal practices and our product offering. We have refined our focus from supply chain data management to deeper supply chain sustainability, delivering credible sustainable data to help the more than 600 manufacturers we work with see deep into their supply chains so they can build more sustainable businesses.”
Assent 2021 sustainability report highlights include:
- Advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within Assent’s workforce by launching a company-wide diversity and inclusion survey. 42 percent of Assent’s executives are women and 45.1 percent of all Assent team members are racially or ethnically diverse.
- Increasing energy efficiency and adapting to the needs for a flexible, hybrid work environment by renovating its Ottawa headquarters. Assent reduced energy consumption in the Ottawa office through the installation of high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, dimmer switches, occupancy sensors, and the conversion to LED lighting. Additionally, Assent diverted 2.74 metric tons from the landfill due to the company’s recycling and rehoming efforts.
- Achieving “Unicorn” status by the end of 2021, placing the company among fewer than 10 Canadian software unicorns.
“As Assent evolves on our sustainability journey, we are transforming our approach to corporate sustainability,” said Sarah Carpenter, chair of the Corporate Sustainability Steering Committee at Assent. “In 2021, we started the foundation for a formal ESG strategy through a materiality assessment and will apply learnings from our participation in the UN Global Compact Climate Ambition Accelerator Program and the UN Global Compact Target Gender Equality Program. We are excited to build a more strategic, data-driven program and execute our strategy in 2022 to manage our sustainability risks and opportunities.”
Learn more and read the Assent 2021 sustainability report at https://www.assent.com/company/sustainability/.
