EVERLESS SGD REPORT

Starting our SGD-Report in times of Corona is a questionable topic as the main focus of most companies is to stay in business and prevent mass redundancies. EVERLESS is approaching this differently. We aim to use this challenging yet unique moment in time as a redirection. As many companies will change their culture and habits it will be important to reconsider the way we work and find a way to achieve the SDG goals. We at EVERLESS believe that we will recover faster from the crisis and prosper more in the future if we act now.

We have to make a change and now is the time. We are at the start of a transition which the UN calls “ DECADE OF ACTION AND DELIVERY.” The sdg’s offer a comprehensive and clear path towards sustainable growth. The very reason we founded the impact startup EVERLESS, is to make a massive impact on single use plastic pollution. So it is inherent in our DNA that we do everything in our power to be as sustainable, fair and transparent in every aspect of our business as we possibly can be. The very reason of our existence is to make a sustainable impact. This is what we fight for every day. This can be challenging at times for SME’s like us, as we rely on partners around the globe to support our goals.

The way we work and the terms under which we do so, are ever more important. Both consumers and businesses are looking more for the why and the impact behind the work and products we make/deliver. EVERLESS aims maximize wellbeing for both consumers and the environment, both short and long term. Not only in the Netherlands where our company is based, but globally. The SDG’s give us the tools to bring our vision alive. We at EVERLESS are excited to lead with example and make sure we are the change we want to see in the world

EVERLESS is committed to implementing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the local level and has installed an indicator working group to support the SDG implementation process while our startup company is scaling.

Coinciding with the installation of a National SDG Commission, a SDG-Indicator Working Group (SDG-IWG) is installed in September 2019 and is a joint effort between employees, collaborators, and all stakeholders we work with, to inform them about the steps we are planning to take to implement the SDG’s. There are many areas in which EVERLESS already produces the SDG indicators on a local level. The main challenge that remains however is addressing our overseas supply chain partners.

By streamlining efforts and with strong collaboration, EVERLESS can reach its objective of monitoring and harmonizing its process.

With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, EVERLESS has identified monitoring and evaluation as an important tool to foster sustainable development. The SDG agenda states the international community’s realization of the need to move away from ‘business as usual’ to a local, regional and international support for a process that enhances the business’ capacity to implement the SDGs; data and statistics being imperative to effectuate this agenda.

According to the 2030 Agenda1, follow-up and review processes at all levels will be “rigorous and based on evidence, informed by business-led evaluations and data which is high-quality, accessible, timely, reliable and disaggregated by income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migration status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts.”
To meet this demand, our CEO has set specific hours to invest how EVERLESS can maximize impact on a local and global level and meet the SDG standards in 2030, creating optimal synergy to the implementation process.

STATEMENT OF CONTINUED SUPPORT BY THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Amsterdam, July 6, 2020

To our stakeholders:
I am pleased to confirm that EVERLESS reaffirms its support of the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact in the areas of Human Rights, Labor, Environment and Anti-Corruption.
In this annual Communication on Progress, we describe our actions to continually improve the integration of the Global Compact and its principles into our business strategy, culture and daily operations. We also commit to sharing this information with our stakeholders using our primary channels of communication.

Sincerely yours,

Joost De Muinck Keizer, CEO and Founder EVERLESS

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIONS
As a start-up, we are learning along the road on how to integrate these steps and be a company that leads by example. Having limited resources to effectively enforce compliance in our supply chain (unlike larger companies), we have the need to be creative and persistent with all stakeholders to improve and ensure adherence to the SDG principles. Since our inception we have done our very best to make sure our partners have adhered to fair practices as laid out by the SDG charter. As said, this is inherent in our DNA, as our very founding principles are built on making impact, improving all aspects of our business towards a fully circular model and hereby lead by example.

We are focusing on these four important pillars:

Human Rights and gender equality
Actions our company has taken in the area of human rights:
We take pride in actively communicating topics around human rights and gender equality in our social media campaigns to inform our audience of the importance of change in this area. By having many women employed in the cut and sew process of our production line, we aim to empower gender equality and reduce at least by half the proportion of men in our supply chain.

Actions our company will be taking over the next 12 months towards human rights:
Supporting companies who invest and educate and assure the companies we work with are registered and certified, to improve and ultimately ensure full compliance with the principles.
It is very exciting to note that while we scale our business, we will start engaging with ever larger supply chain partners, who have the funding and scale to adhere by ever stricter human rights and labor policies, ensuring compliance with the principles.

Labor
Actions our company has taken in the area of labor rights:
We have personally visited most supply chain partners and have done our due diligence regarding labor regulation compliance, prior to official engagement. One of our partners has also been selected by the Government of the Netherlands, having undergone thourough screening to ensure compliance with local labor regulations and basic standards such as fair hours, compensation, access to hygenal facilities, social space and lunch hours.
As stated above, as we move towards scaling the business, we are working very hard to integrate our supply chain to keep increasing efficiency and access to partners with ever higher levels of labor compliance and certification

Environment
Our company was created with the very purpose of reducing our environmental impact on our planet, to empower both corporations and consumers to reduce their footprint. So it is inherent in our DNA to minimize the environmental impact of our production process, the materials we use and the end of life solutions we strive for.
Our goal is to have our products to be both fully created from recycled materials and to be fully recyclable, in short to be fully circular.
This also include the end of life strategy. We are working towards a mail back system in collaboration with national mail services, so consumers can simply deposit our product in a mailbox instead of disposing it in regular plastic recycling, hereby drastically reducing the plastic footprint.
Once technically and economically viable, we will also move towards 100% circular material usage. At this time, quality and economic considerations are the reason behind our current material usage. We believe that durability trumps recyclability. What we mean by this is that current recycled materials available on the market that would be suitable for our product, are technically grossly inferior and more expensive, which would result in our product having a shorter shelf life and a higher price. Yet with scale and ongoing R&D, we will be able to make the model of full circularity work and we are fully committed to reaching this important milestone over the next few years.

Anti-Corruption
Actions our company has taken in the area of anti-corruption:
Our Asian manufacturing partner is actively involved in our manufacturing process, physically visiting our factory and being actively involved in the entire process. This way we aim to reduce the possibility of fraudulous practices.
We maintain a personal relationship with the injection molding side of our manufacturing process, ensuring compliance in the arena of corruption as much as we possibly can.
As with human rights & gender equality, labor and environment above, scaling will allow us to increase our control over the abiding of said principles as larger companies face more scrutiny from both other larger customers as well as certifying entities and government oversight.

Conclusion

Producing this SDG Baseline Measurement for EVERLESS, for the first time this year, it is evident that we have many challenges ahead of us in addressing the existing data gaps. It is therefore important to continue building on successes in order to move forward in support of the implementation of the SDG’s for EVERERLESS.

In the next couple of months, progress will be made in meeting the data and reporting challenges of the global development efforts. Other key data producing stakeholders will also be joining the process of SDG indicator production of EVERLESS.

However, it is important that EVERLESS receives the necessary resources needed to build a long-term sustainable statistical system in support of our goals as well as those of the SDG charter.

Fortunately, there has been a growing interest and motivation for the SDG framework among different levels of government as well as among NGOs and the private sector in the world who can provide audit support for us. The SDG-IWG will continue supporting the SDG National Commission, the data producing departments with indicator production and other technical support for the production of the indicators, and will be supporting other SDG working groups, such as the upcoming SDG-Expert Working Groups.

As said, we face many challenges towards full compliance with all SDG principles and it is frustrating that so much is beyond our control at times. We are fully committed however to keep improving our adherence to the principles in all aspects of our business. We thank you for the opportunity to be a part of this great project of transforming business to a powerful took for positive change on the planet. We are honored to join forces with you and look forward keep improving and evolving in this partnership.

Sincerely,

Joost de Muinck Keizer
CEO EVERLESS