Group Social and Environmental Affairs (SEA) reports into the General Counsel of the adidas Group and is tasked with:
- Ensuring compliance with the Workplace Standards within the supply chain
- Leading, promoting and managing the development and implementation of environmental strategies across the Group's value chain
- Extending and maturing the engagement and collaboration with others to drive changes in the industry
- Managing the Group's Community Affairs programme at Group level
- Managing the Group's corporate sustainability communication and reporting.
The SEA team consists of a diverse group of 65 people - engineers, lawyers, HR managers, environmental auditors, and former members of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The team is organised into three regional teams covering Asia, the Americas and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), as well as the Group-wide functions of Environmental Services and Community Affairs.
As a cross-cutting function SEA collaborates closely with other global Group functions such as Sourcing, Legal, Facility Management, Human Resources and the Sales organisation but also with Brand Marketing and Product Development. The collaboration of SEA with Sourcing has been particularly important for improving workplace and environmental conditions in the adidas Group's supply chain. Over the years, SEA has established collaborative systems and processes to ensure Sourcing fully considers compliance with workplace standards. In 2010, SEA played a critical role in driving, developing and coordinating the Group-wide Environmental Strategy 2015.
By engaging directly with suppliers, government and other external stakeholders, SEA is informed about social and environmental issues at an early stage. It addresses any potential risks, and health, safety and environmental liabilities, in its monthly report to the Executive Board and Sourcing management. The team is directly involved in developing and updating corporate policies and operating procedures related to social accountability, product safety and compliance with environmental laws and regulations.