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Wesco 2024 Sustainability Report: Products, Innovation & Supply Chain

WCC | 13 days ago

Wesco 2023 Energy Solutions Projects Summary

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / October 23, 2024 / Wesco International
Read the 2024 Wesco Sustainability Report here

Products, Innovation and Supply Chain

Designed for a Dynamic Market

Our Products

We offer a wide range of sustainable products from the world's leading manufacturers and help our customers determine the best solution to meet their sustainability goals. Key categories include:

Energy-efficient products: Advances in lighting, motors, drives, transformers and our other mechanical products increase the ROI value proposition to install energy-efficient products, which continue to benefit our customers through reduced lifetime energy costs.
Energy-management solutions: Our smart building solutions give better visibility and control of energy consumption and storage. These range from lighting and HVAC controls to advanced building automation and AI-driven monitoring equipment.
Renewable energy products: We offer renewable energy solutions that include solar, electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, energy storage solutions and micro-turbine wind.
Sustainable maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products: We have a broad range of sustainable MRO products to support green procurement goals.
Workplace safety products: We offer a full range of products and equipment designed to help keep people safe in the workplace.

Wesco Energy Solutions

The Wesco Energy Solutions team is focused on turnkey LED lighting and controls upgrades to assist customers in realizing cost savings and sustainability goal achievement. The end-to-end service offering includes audit, design, procurement, project management, installation, rebate, commissioning, and post-installation warranty support.

For each project, we leverage our technology and supplier relationships while considering price, performance, aesthetics, cost of maintenance, warranty, product availability and manufacturer reliability and stability. Wesco Energy Solutions serves as a single point of contact throughout the lighting renovation and retrofit process, allowing our customers to easily implement energy-efficient solutions. Following a preliminary assessment, we conduct an onsite investment-grade audit of the facility being considered for an energy efficiency upgrade. Our detailed analysis of the audit's findings results in energy- and cost-efficient designs and recommendations.

In addition to project implementation costs, we provide insights that enable our customers to make the optimal decisions in support of their business's sustainability, branding, and financial goals and objectives.

This includes:

A detailed financial analysis, including a cost savings and payback periods.
Energy reduction in kilowatt-hours saved, the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions eliminated, and the emissions-reduction equivalent in terms of trees planted and cars removed from the road.
A line-by-line energy analysis of each proposed lighting fixture.
Available utility rebates.
Financing options.

Once a project is approved, we provide turnkey installation coupled with project life-cycle management services. This includes selecting and managing our installation partner(s), staging and storage of material, coordinating and securing rebates, recycling of the replaced fixtures and more.

Wesco 2023 Energy Solutions Projects Summary

Projects completed: 2,855
Area of Energy Efficiency Audits: 74M square feet Rebates Back to Customers: $4M
Potential Customer Energy Savings: 84M kWh
Potential CO2 Emissions Avoided: 53,612 MTCO2e Estimated Client Energy and Maintenance Savings: $13M

Wesco Renewables

Our programs, services and solutions are designed for the dynamic and flourishing renewables market. Whether the focus is residential, commercial, or utility- scale solar, Wesco offers supply chain solutions supported by a leading product portfolio and expertise that is current with evolving market demands. Our solutions are scalable and adaptable to respond quickly and meet the needs of the industries we serve.

Selling and installing solar energy systems can be a complex process, but not with the right partner. Our team of dedicated in-house experts includes sales, project management, and inventory specialists. Additionally, our technical team offers engineering and design services customized to end user needs. In 2022, we opened our Solar Center of Excellence (COE) and in 2024, we are adding incremental resources to support our expanding services and offerings. The Solar COE is a centralized resource consisting of subject matter experts that can provide technical support, training, strategic sales guidance, project management, and business development to the greater Wesco sales organization and their customers. In its first year of operation, the Solar COE provided support to more than 100 Wesco sales reps in over 65 sales offices around the country.

In addition to our in-house expertise, we partner with the world's industry-leading providers of renewable products and solutions, including manufacturers of photovoltaic modules, inverters, racking, the balance of systems, energy storage and EV chargers. Our strong partnerships combined with our expansive distribution network ensure our customers have the flexibility to quickly scale to ever-changing demands.

Whatever the geographic scope, we help customers expand their reach by leveraging our global footprint allowing service for projects at any scale. To complement our dedicated resources and product offerings, our supply chain value proposition includes everything from vendor-managed inventory to financing solutions.

Our team understands today's complex supply chain and provides guidance throughout the project life cycle including business development, preconstruction and logistics, construction and installation and support
and operations maintenance. Wesco offers materials management services including staging, on-site storage, kitting, cable management, code compliance and safety solutions. We also offer customized combiner boxes and PV assembly solutions to reduce our customers' operating costs.

This combination of in-house expertise, product offerings and supply-chain solutions allow our renewables customers to remain focused on selling and installing solar energy systems. The result is increased profitability and reduced operating costs for our customers, more solar energy on the grid and solutions to keep our communities running smoothly and the world working smarter. In 2023, we worked with our customers to install solar products with more than 192 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy generating potential. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions avoided is equal to the emissions from:

15,092,755 gallons of gas consumed
147,820,780 lbs. of coal burned

*Equivalencies based on the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Solar Center of Excellence was founded to provide technical support, training, strategic sales guidance, project management and business development to the sales organization and their customers.

Supply Chain

Our supply chain mission statement prioritizes safety, sustainability, supplier diversity and supplier transparency. It is a business imperative that Wesco remains a supplier of choice for our customers. Our Executive Vice President of Global Supply Chain and Operations provides quarterly updates to our Board of Directors on the mission-critical safety, health and sustainability of our supply chain.

We purchase products from a diverse group of suppliers, most of whom are headquartered in North America and manufacture products around the world.

Responsible Sourcing

Wesco is committed to protecting human rights, safeguarding health and safety standards, and promoting environmental responsibility across our supply chain. To this end, we require our suppliers to maintain safe and fair working environments for their workers, meet the requirements of the Wesco Supplier Code of Conduct, and comply with all applicable laws.

Our Supplier Code of Conduct and contractual terms set our expectations for human rights, health and safety, environmental responsibility and business ethics and integrity. We expect our suppliers to adhere to our standards in their operations. Our Business Integrity Line is available for employees, suppliers and outside parties to report any unethical conduct in our supply chain.

To help us evaluate supplier performance against our expectations and better understand the sustainability and risks in our supply chain, we conduct a supplier sustainability survey biennially. The survey questions cover conflict minerals, environmental performance, human rights and employee and supplier diversity.

Wesco's Approach to Supplier Engagement and Continuous Improvement

We follow a risk-based approach whereby we proactively and continuously identify and evaluate the risks within our supply chain. Based on changes in the risks, we adopt appropriate criteria and standards for supplier selection, including contractual obligations and performance metrics.

Communicating Our Expectations

We have high expectations of corporate responsibility and environmental sustainability performance. To ensure our suppliers understand what we require, suppliers are expected to review and commit to the Wesco Supplier Code of Conduct.

Responsible Sourcing Assessments

We evaluate supplier compliance, human rights and environmental sustainability performance in numerous ways, including surveys, self-assessments, site visits and third-party audits. In December 2023, we launched a campaign to survey our top suppliers in terms of human rights and environmental sustainability performance.

Responsible Sourcing Audits

In 2023, we worked with UL Solutions, an independent, third-party auditor, to perform sourcing reviews at 75 facilities around the world that manufacture products for our private label offerings. Responsible sourcing audits focus on the following topics:

Labor Practices:

Abuse, Coercion, Harassment, Disciplinary Action • Benefits
Child Labor, Young Workers, Apprentices/Trainees
Discrimination
Forced, Bonded, Indentured, Slave, Prison Labor
Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining
Hiring and Termination
Remuneration
Working Hours

Health and Safety:

Accidents
Chemicals and Hazardous Materials
Electrical
Emergency
Equipment Safety
First Aid
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Other Topics:

Facility Supply Chain Profile
Ethics and Business Integrity
Management Systems for Grievance

Corrective Action and Preventative Action Plans

Following these responsible sourcing audits, 54 factories were required to implement a corrective action and preventative action plan ("CAPA") to address non- compliances. Steps to remediation may include simple actions (such as clearing a blocked exit path) or more complex requirements (such as implementing new company procedures or building new health and safety infrastructure). We require suppliers to address critical or high-risk findings immediately. Depending on the severity, will stop purchasing from the supplier until the issue is resolved. Through our CAPA process, we strive to ensure that our suppliers continuously improve their performance, as we work towards building a more responsible and sustainable supply chain.

Continuous Improvement

Wesco is committed to continuous improvement in our approach to responsible sourcing, as we look to deploy new strategies and technologies to expand the scope and depth of our responsible sourcing program. Please also see our Ethics and Compliance section for a list of policies relevant to our suppliers, including our Supplier Code of Conduct, along with the Data Privacy and Cybersecurity section for more information on supplier data protection.

Supplier Diversity

At Wesco, we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive culture and are choosing business partners who share our values. Headed by our Director of Supplier Diversity Sales and Sourcing, we are committed to growing our Supplier Diversity Network in size and spend and expanding our Diversity Alliance Network.

We have defined our mission, goals and strategy surrounding supplier diversity. In 2023, we invested in a strategic partnership with a recognized third party to implement a supply chain management tool that identifies, confirms third party certifications, and connects us with diverse suppliers. This tool provides line of sight to the supplier business profile and has enhanced our diverse supplier spending reporting.

Together, we will:

Increase our portfolio of vetted, third-party diverse suppliers across the enterprise.
Drive growth and inclusion by fostering long-term partnership with our customers through a robust and diverse supply chain, while delivering our comprehensive and proven technology solutions.
Support diverse business enterprises throughout our supply chain operations.

Membership Organizations

Our memberships with the following national business, civic, and trade organizations strengthen our efforts and yield best practices for identifying and developing new relationships:

National Minority Supplier Diversity Council (NMSDC) Membership
Disability:IN
Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) Membership

As our supplier diversity efforts mature, we are establishing new efforts internally and externally. Within Wesco, we have initiated a Supplier Diversity
All Star award for employees supporting our goals and have partnered with business resource groups supporting internal diversity goals. In 2023, we continued expanding communications, including a dedicated page on our website and a highlight of our goals on social media channels.

Additionally, through internal and external communications channels we have featured diverse companies in support of driving awareness and growing our Supplier Diversity spend at Wesco.

Diverse Suppliers*

Minority-, Women-, Aboriginal-, People with Disabilities-, LGBTQ, Veteran- and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned businesses.

• 2023 Diversity Suppliers: 2,424
• 2023 Diversity Spend: $370M
• 2023 Diversity Alliance Network Sales: $240M

*All self and third-party certified minority, women, veteran, disabled, disadvantaged, 8(a), HUBZone, LGBTQ, Aboriginal and diverse small- business enterprises validated through third-party organizations.

To learn more, download the 2024 Wesco Sustainability Report here.

About This Report

Unless otherwise stated, this report covers activities, data and initiatives from our fiscal year 2023.

ESG Disclosure and Framework Alignment

The topics covered in this report include those that we have determined to be material for our business and stakeholders as noted on page 12. Wesco aligns with several ESG frameworks and disclosures in support of our commitment to transparency and our fulfillment of stakeholder needs and expectations. We leverage the following frameworks and standards to provide robust ESG information disclosure:

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI): GRI offers a list of global standards and guidelines around sustainability reporting.
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB): SASB provides a comprehensive set of industry-specific disclosure topics and guidelines.
Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD): TCFD provides disclosure recommendations on thematic ESG topics such as governance, strategy, risk management, metrics and targets to provide stakeholders with fuller information surrounding climate risks.
CDP: Formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project, CDP is an international organization that helps companies and cities measure and disclose important environmental impact information through an annual questionnaire and rating system.
United Nations Global Compact (UNGC): UNGC is an initiative that aims to help businesses align their strategies and work toward the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (U.N. SDGs): U.N. SDGs provide a shared set of 17 toward peace and prosperity for people and planet goals and create a call to action by all countries in a global partnership.

We also regularly engage with our investors, employees, customers, regulators, ratings agencies and others on ESG and business issues. Additional information about Wesco can be found in our public financial filings - including our annual report and proxy filings - as well as on the Security and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov or on the Investors page of our website at Wesco.com.

Wesco plans to continue to report annually as we monitor, measure, and deepen our ESG initiatives and disclosures.

Wesco endorses the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are a call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

More information about our SDG aligned initiatives is included throughout this report.

Assurance
We did not seek third-party assurance for this report; however, we will consider doing so for future reporting. The information and data contained in this report was vetted by internal subject matter experts on the various ESG topics included in this report.

Contact Us
We appreciate and welcome feedback on our ESG initiatives and reporting and invite you to contact us directly via email at Sustainability@Wesco.com.