Economy

We share our values and highest ethical standards with aLl our stakeholders.

We focus on:

Business ethics: maintaining a compliant structure and fair business operation
Stakeholders: maintaining long-lasting relationships with our stakeholders
Nexans Foundation: helping underprivileged communities to gain access to electricity

Ethics

Code of Ethics and Business Conduct Compliance with rules on ethics is one of Nexans’ underlying commitments in conducting business. Nexans’ Code of Ethics and Business Conduct establishes the ethical rules and values with which Group employees and business partners must comply within the course of their professional duties. These rules cover competition law, fraud prevention, corruption and conflicts of interest, compliance with applicable regulations on embargoes, money laundering, personal data protection, and more.

Read the full document here.

Dedicated Compliance Programme

Every year, all Group managers are required to follow the five-day Ethics Compliance training programme, which is based on the most important ethical risks and an actionplan set by Nexans' top management. A specific set of actions is defined and deployed to reinforce or update prevention to new legal obligations or identified needs. The overall purpose of this annual plan is to efficiently prevent, detect and monitor the actual risks to which the Group is exposed. Upon completion of this training, all managers sign the Ethics Code compliance certificate.

Ethics alert system: warn us

Every violation of the Code of Ethics and Business can be reported to us through our whistleblowing system. This ethical alert system by Nexans is available for everybody: employees, clients, suppliers, or every other third party. Read more on our page about the ethics alert system.

7,645

employees participated in the “Compliance Week” in 2022

22 ^hours

average time spent per employee on digital training in 2023 (compared with 3 hours in 2021)

“ Nexans shares and upholds the highest values in the way it conducts its business across the world. Nexans’ Code of Ethics and Business Conduct is our guide for applying our ethical standards. We are fully committed to safeguarding our reputation and success, and to earning widespread trust through our governance, ethics and compliance practices. It is in the interest of all to adhere to this Code. Together, we can make the conscious decision to achieve lasting compliance. ”

Christopher Guérin

CEO Nexans

CSR assessments

Nexans’ CSR performance is recognized by several independent rating agencies, reflecting the Group’s ongoing commitment to a transition towards sustainable and responsible practices.

CDP: A

In 2023, Nexans received a prestigious ‘A’ score from Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a worldwide non-profit environmental organisation dedicated to study the impact of the world's most leading companies on climate change. This recognition marks a significant milestone in Nexans’ journey towards sustainable electrification. The score indicates noteworthy progress in comparison to the 'A-' scores in 2022 and 2021. Nexans is amongst 14% of companies that reached 'Leadership' level in the Activity Group of Metal products manufacturing.

EcoVadis: 80/100

In 2023, Nexans was upgraded with a score of 80/100 by non-profit rating agency EcoVadis, surpassing the consistent score of 78/100 over the last three years. This result has enabled the Group to maintain the prestigious Platinum Medal for CSR Performance and ranks among the top 1% of companies assessed by EcoVadis. EcoVadis assesses four pillars: Environment, Social & Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement. These results show stakeholders our CSR performances and are the result of good cooperation between departments.

MSCI: A

MSCI ESG Ratings aim to measure a company’s resilience to long-term ESG risks (ESG: ‘Evironment, Social, Governance’). Companies are scored on an industry-relative AAA-CCC scale across the most relevant Key Issues based on their business model. Nexans' A rating means that our company is effective in managing environmental and social risks and has a sound governance stucture.

Sustainalytics: 19.8

In 2023, the Group’s ESG risk rating was evaluated at 19.8, which corresponds to a +0.8 difference from 2022 (20.6 ESG risk rating). This represents a low risk of material financial impacts driven by ESG factors. The rating is based on the Group’s low risk exposure and its strong management of material ESG issues. Lower ratings are better, and Nexans aims to further improve its rating and remain in the low-risk category with a grading of at least 20.

ISS ESG: B-

In 2023, ISS ESG maintained Nexans’ rating of B–, with B being the best rating in the sector. This score enabled the Group to keep its Prime Status. ISS ESG awards Prime status to companies that fulfill its demanding requirements regarding sustainability performance in the electronic components industry.

Stakeholders

It is important to be transparant toward stakeholders. That is why our corporate website provides extended information about our methods, investments, norms and values.

Nexans values collaborating with corporations with the same norms and values. That is why we don't work with companies that don't invest in sustainable energy and is every company we work with (like suppliers) required to sign the CSR Charter. By signing this document, our suppliers agree with the CSR Charter.

Human rights & labour standards	Environment	Ethics & business conduct
Elimination of forced and child labour	Minimizing environmental pollution	Actively fighting corruption
Upholding diversity and fairness	Enforcing criteria for environment, health and safety	Data privacy
Respecting labour relations	Restricting waste	Not accepting nor distributing gifts or invitations
A maximum of 60 working hours a week and providing adequate training opportunities		Conflict of interest must immediately be reported to Nexans
Enforcing safety and health		Fair competition
Fair and legal mining

Nexans also provides an Incident Reporting System, allowing suppliers and other stakeholders to online report a possible violation of one of the aforementioned principles.

Nexans Foundation

In 2013, Nexans was the first player in the cable industry to establish a Corporate Foundation, committed to promote general public interest. This followed an appeal by the UN in 2012 to raise awareness for energy poverty and the importance of expanding the access to energy. In 2023, the Nexans Foundation celebrated its 10th anniversary. In those ten years, the Foundation has focused on:

Supporting actions in favour of accessability to energy for underprivileged populations around the world, by opting for organisations close to the region and reliable, sustainable solutions;
Supporting teaching and training the local populations in technology, energy and environment;
Supporting environmental studies (climate, energy efficiency, protecting resources and biodiversity) regarding electrification.

Some of the causes the Nexans Foundation supported in 2023:

Benin: Training young women in the solar industry and helping them set up businesses in the renewable energy branche, in collaboration with Women of Africa;
Marocco, Lebanon en Ivory Coast: Improving the employability of young people in the electricity branche with equipment from training centres, cable donations and educational visits to the plants;
India: Distributing lanterns on solar energy to give children the opportunity to read and study after sunset, in collaboration with Un Enfant Par La Main;
Madagascar: Installing innovative photovoltaic systems at 6 high schools and creating online courses for training in photovoltaic maintenance, in collaboration with ACCESMAD.

Since its founding, the Nexans Foundation has financially supported 69 education projects, executed by 32 NGO's (non-governmental organisations) in 24 countries.

For more information, visit the website of Fondation Nexans