ESG Policy

1. Purpose

The purpose of the Unisense Environmental, Social, and Governance Policy is to outline our expectations for our employees and partners, including our suppliers and distributors. We expect our employees and partners to act in accordance with our Code of Conduct and to support our ESG Policy.

This document provides the basis for a profitable co-operation based on the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact and in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

It is our aim that our partners extend the ESG Policy to their own supply chain to encourage all companies and individuals involved with Unisense and Unisense Environment to adhere to the Code of Conduct and support the ESG Policy.

How we apply the Ten Principles and the SDGs in our daily operations

1. Corporate

Unisense’s overall purpose is to enable scientific research with sensors and develop sensors for environmental and industrial applications. We do that by creating sensors and measurement equipment for our customers’ research applications. We generate profits to support the development of new products within sensors and environmental research, and to create value for our investors.

Unisense Environment’s overall purpose is to enable wastewater treatment plants to optimize processes, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and provide reliable data for sustainability accounting with the application of the N₂O Wastewater System.

Unisense and Unisense Environment comply with the laws and regulations where we operate, and we take pride in our financial responsibility. We comply with certification requirements, and our business is ISO certified by an accredited partner.

All employees working with sales, finance, marketing, and purchasing are required to complete a yearly anti-corruption training course.

Unisense treats all employees and job applicants equally, regardless of race, color, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction, social origin, age, disability, HIV/AIDS status, trade union membership, and sexual orientation. We want to create a workplace with a focus on physical and mental health.

We offer a healthy diet (we aim to avoid beef and have two weekly vegetarian days), physiotherapy, and training facilities for all our employees, and we provide our employees with a pension scheme and health insurance. For our colleagues in production, we strive to make their work as relieving as possible and offer time for exercises assigned by the physio during work hours.

We support social activities between employees with both time and finances, and we offer a yearly sponsorship pool where employees can apply for funding for their own or their children’s recreational activities.

2. Customer Support

We aim provide our customers with the best possible advice and support. Our colleagues in sales and customer support are highly specialized, typically PhDs with own research experience to match our customers’ level of knowledge. We offer our customers technical support for our products and measurement systems as well as support for their research application to achieve the best results.

We aim to provide world class after sales support. As an example, we offer repair service when it is economically and environmentally advisable for the customer for any Unisense and Unisense Environment products, including legacy products, regardless of date of purchase.

3. Suppliers

We strive to use local suppliers to reduce transport of goods and related carbon emissions. We aim to buy items in bulks to reduce transportation and reduce our carbon footprint. For that reason, we prioritize repairable equipment with a long life cycle, and low power consumption.

We pay our suppliers on time.

4. Distributors

We require our distributors to adhere to our Code of Conduct, be familiar with our ESG Policy, and comply with the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact.

We encourage our distributors to pool their purchases to reduce carbon emissions from transportation. Our distributors are required to sell our products based on good, scientific guidance, and they offer technical and application support thus extending Unisense’s principles in Customer Support.

5. The Environment

All our shipments are transported by UPS Carbon Neutral whereby UPS ensures the mitigation of all transport emissions. In Europe, we prioritize shipping by road to reduce the need for air freight.

We sort and dispose of any waste from our own operations in the correct manner, and we instruct our customers on how to sort and dispose of our sensors when they are no longer functional.

All our packaging is made from FSC-certified cardboard, and we continuously work to reduce packaging and promote the recycling and reuse of our packaging.

When we fly for business purposes, we prioritize direct flights to reduce the emissions from landings and take-offs.

We encourage our employees to go to work by bike instead of the car by providing roofed bicycle parking and a heating cabinet for wet clothes.

All new company vehicles are required to be either electric vehicles (EV) or plug-in hybrids (PHEV). In our recruitment processes, we always emphasize that applicants should live within a short commute of our offices or be willing to relocate.

2. UN Global Compact

Unisense supports the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact on human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption. We are committed to making the UN Global Compact and its principles part of our strategy, culture, and day-to-day operations, and to advance the broader development goals of the United Nations, particularly the Sustainable Development Goals.

Unisense completes an annual Sustainability Report (Communication on Progress) which is available from our member profile at unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/participants/153824.

The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact

Click the boxes below to learn more about the individual principles.

3. The UN Sustainable Development Goals

Unisense and Unisense Environment support the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the strategic development of our companies as well as in the day-to-day operations.

Our work with the Sustainable Development Goals highlights how we as companies will continue to contribute to

Conserve and ensure sustainable use of the world’s oceans and their resources.
Act quickly to combat climate change and its consequences.
Ensure everyone has access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy

The Goals highlighted below have been selected by the employees of both companies as our areas of focus.

Learn more about the goals at sdgs.un.org/goals.

12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

We have identified our primary negative impact in the operation of our laboratories and offices where we work to reduce energy and food waste, sort and handle waste responsibly, and recycle as many materials as possible. We also employ this in our purchasing of office equipment and machinery by prioritizing items that have a longer life cycle and reduce the need for replacement.

14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development

Unisense shall support and contribute to the sustainable development of our oceans and their resources. We will do this by further developing our product portfolio to continue to enable scientific research in the acidity and microbiology of the oceans. With our sensors, we will make it possible to document and enable the reduction of human influence on the oceans.

13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Unisense and Unisense Environment shall contribute to research in and knowledge of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from wastewater, and continue to support the measurement and management of emissions to reduce the climate footprint.

7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all

We will continue to develop and improve our product portfolio to support the research in renewable energy. Our Unisense sensors are applied in a wide range of research applications in the environment and biomedicine. Our hydrogen sensor is used by researchers investigating Power-to-X whereby you produce renewable hydrogen with just water and green electricity. This makes it possible to store hydrogen and apply it as a fossil-free fuel.