Company Announcement - In a dynamic business landscape, the four pillars of sustainability being economical, social, environmental and governance have become a focal area for corporate South Africa. Competing in a space largely dominated by multi-national competitors, GIBB, South Africa’s leading black-owned engineering consulting firm, has launched its first sustainability report - a testimonial to the firm’s commitment to excellence.

The three year report serves to anticipate future scenarios, and identify issues and risks that face South Africa and the continent. The document was developed incorporating internal stakeholder engagement to identify key indicators that have a material impact on GIBB’s sustainability. From training to career development, employee wellness, equality, energy management, waste management, corporate social investment, resource utilisation, financial indicators and client perceptions, this report provides insight into GIBB’s performance across these indicators and will provide the basis for future annual sustainability reporting.
GIBB General Manager for Environmental Services, Dr Urishanie Govender, indicated that GIBB has recognised that its sustainability journey begins at home and has restructured the business by creating a dedicated Sustainability Unit, having direct accountability to the Group Chief Executive Officer. The sustainability reporting process is managed in accordance with the GIBB ASPIRE Approach which advocates a scientific and comprehensive approach to reporting starting with acknowledge our impact, working smartly, enabling a participative and integrative culture, responding effectively and finally continuous improvement on our sustainability performance.

Louwrens van der Merwe, Environmental Sustainability Consultant at GIBB said: “Looking to the future, sustainability within GIBB has the potential for continuous improvement, leaving us with the vision to expand our report to a much more comprehensive indication of happenings within GIBB and to ultimately make a difference in the way we do business.” “GIBB is determined to become the world-class provider of infrastructure planning and design consulting in South Africa. Reports such as these are needed for the progression and establishment of future-based practices that will only benefit our advancement and enable us to share best practices across the value chain to drive positive change towards sustainable outcomes,” said Govender.

Van der Merwe meanwhile stressed that constant investigation and discovering issues that matter to GIBB are an integral part of doing business. “We need to constantly look at these issues in order to evaluate materiality, engage with our stakeholders and process information to ensure we function and manage our talented employees, and execute our operations, in a manner relevant to a business environment that is ever changing,” he continued on the importance of producing such reports.

“Our sustainability report has proved that sustainability is not a destination but a continual journey. We have produced a report with indicators in which we find value in reporting on. We are confident that a good base is set for the future sustainable management of GIBB and beyond,” said Govender. Govender added that GIBB’s commitment to sustainable performance including minimising the carbon footprint relating to business activities, investing in our people, pollution prevention and consulting with the communities that are impacted by the work of the engineers is captured in GIBB’s sustainability policy.
GIBB has worked closely with Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) in the development of an Engineering Sustainability Reporting Framework to drive a common approach to sustainability performance within the engineering consulting services in South Africa. GIBB’s commitment to sustainability reporting in accordance with the latest requirements of the Global Reporting Initiative, emphasises the aspirations of the firm to respond to meet international standards of reporting.

“GIBB understands the importance of implementing sustainability principles into our operations and as the firm recognises the link between a healthy environment, both in terms of the natural and the social context and the vital need for a growing economy which supports social upliftment. GIBB is committed to leading the engineering consulting in protecting and enhancing the lives of people and the natural environment. This commitment and stewardship is essential to our continued business success and in this regard, GIBB acknowledges that the concept of sustainability must play a central role in our operations as well as our projects locally and abroad,” concluded Govender.