Introduction
This is the first formal sustainability report performed by Graham Corporation. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance is important to me personally, to our customers, company, employees, and to our world. Our member companies, Graham Manufacturing in Batavia, NY and Barber-Nichols (BN) in Arvada, CO, are leaders in highly engineered solutions for energy, defense, and aerospace applications and have the ability to positively impact ESG performance in our world on a daily basis. We are committed to reporting our ESG performance with accuracy and transparency to our customers, communities, workforce, supply chain and investors.
From an Environmental perspective, Graham and BN contribute greatly to the sustainability efforts of our customers who produce clean power and who work to reduce carbon emissions. Our companies develop and produce equipment used in clean power like geothermal and waste heat power plants, biodiesel and hydrogen fuel production, distribution, fueling, and power generation, concentrated solar power generation, and small modular and Navy nuclear power systems. The heat exchange, vacuum, power producing and fluid transfer equipment we produce for our customers using fossil fuels are known for the highest efficiency possible which help to reduce carbon emissions. Our service teams help maintain the equipment at high operating efficiency.
Each of our facilities are diligent in controlling hazardous waste and ensuring waste water and storm sewer discharges are monitored to support greater access to clean water. We help minimize the sources of pollution in our communities with Adopt A Street activities, water re-use, factory recycling programs, electric car charging stations, and energy saving initiatives like LED lighting, motion sensors for lighting, smart compressors to manage energy loads and installing programmable thermostats in our facilities.
Our Social involvement starts with our people and expands into our communities. Each of our companies have established safety councils and we track lost time from recordable incidents. At BN, we have added an OSHA recognized Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) to add extra emphasis to our people’s safety. Both companies measure employee engagement and have active programs to improve our people’s work life. Work-life balance is supported with various employee led outings, communication, and flexible company policies.
Our employee focus has led to our companies being employers of choice in their communities. Promoting respect and fairness in the workplace, recruiting, hiring, training, and promoting based on individual’s qualifications and company needs are foundational elements. We regularly evaluate compensation and pay practices to ensure equality while promoting merit.
We take employee and future employee development seriously. Tuition reimbursement, internship programs, endowed scholarship programs with local community colleges and universities, lunch-and-learns, on-site and off-site training programs all help our employees and community rise to a higher level of societal contribution.
Community involvement is large and growing. Graham and BN have a good record of public service, donations, endowed scholarships, and corporate sponsorships for community events and causes. We are adding community outreach through Habitat for Humanity involvement, STEM mentorship, and through hosting Diversity and Inclusion related groups in our facilities.
Our business partners in our supply chain are evaluated and chosen using the same high expectations we have of ourselves in ethics, integrity, compliance, human rights and environmental protections.
Governance starts with our board of directors who have a good record of risk management, independence and strong governance. We have three standing Board committees that review business risk regularly: Audit, Compensation, and Nomination & Governance. As of March 23, 2022, we improved board diversity with women holding two of seven board positions and occupying 1/3 of board committee chair positions. Our chair and board members are independent (with exception of the CEO) and have a combination of other board experience, tenure, and fresh perspectives.
Graham Corporation, its directors, officers, employees and agents operate to a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics to ensure integrity and ethics in all we do. As a public company we have and comply with an Insider Trading policy to promote and protect the Company’s reputation for integrity, ethical conduct and good corporate governance. As an international company, Graham and its member companies and agents are committed to complying with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other corruption laws.
We intend to continue, improve, and expand our Environmental, Social, and Governance reporting in future years to ensure our customers, communities, workforce, supply chain and investors understand our commitment to ESG performance.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about how ESG performance is contributing to Graham Corporation’s success.
Sincerely,
Daniel J. Thoren
Chief Executive Officer, Graham Corporation
2021 ESG Scores
With limited prior disclosure to the investment community on our ESG activities, we aren’t surprised to be graded relatively low in ESG categories by proxy advisory firms. We believe that with better communication of what we have been doing along with the improvements we have planned; our scores will improve.
SASB Classifications:
Graham corporation’s member companies best classify into the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board classifications for RT-AE Aerospace & Defense and RT-1G Industrial Machinery & Goods. Our reporting reflects that dual classification.
SASB Index and Metrics Report
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