Sustainability at Zound
Operating in the consumer electronics industry means we have a clear responsibility to act sustainably. Our approach drives us to keep challenging our industry and initiating change that brings about better outcomes for everybody. Find out more about what we are doing and what we’ve already achieved in the sections below.
Sustainable design
Sustainable design is our most important tool to reduce climate and social impact. That’s why it’s one of our highest priorities. Through clever design, careful choice of materials and tech innovation we can create enduring, quality products.
Our approach
We are curious and unafraid to challenge conventional methods to lower the impact of our products. From assessing new materials and technical solutions to using sustainable design tools and guidelines we can work towards a circular future.
So far, we've removed coating on majority of new headphones, increasing product lifetime as well as reducing the use of raw materials and production processes. We've prolonged the lifespan of our products thanks to extended battery lifetime, exchangeable and washable parts, and spare parts.
We've also eliminated harmful chemicals like mercury, brominated flame retardants, and phthalates from all our products and banned perfluorinated substances PFOA and PFOS.
Reducing climate impact
For us transparency about our sustainability performance is critical. So is reducing our climate impact across the entire value chain. To achieve the best possible results, we need to focus our efforts where we have the biggest footprint, but first we need to know what that impact is.
Our approach
To get a holistic view of our climate impact, we calculate our emissions based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and work towards reducing our impact across the entire value chain.
Our calculations are based on internal and third-party data as well as emission factors from recognised databases. We constantly look for ways to improve the quality of our data, the accuracy of our calculations and the understanding of our carbon impact.
We work to prioritise focus areas and make business decisions to lower our footprint. As a result, we've prioritised sea and ground freight for distributing our products with just three percent of products shipped by air.
Responsible Sourcing
The consumer electronics supply chain presents challenges in terms of human rights, health and safety, as well as environmental impacts from production and sourcing materials. We are committed to improving, but we can’t do it alone. We need to work with our suppliers to keep raising standards and improve social, environmental and ethical performance together.
Our approach
By working closely with a select number of long-term suppliers who share our values and sustainability vision, and maintaining a high presence at our factories we can raise standards. On top of this, we work with our partners to share knowledge and experience of sustainability.
We've revised the Zound Industries Supplier Code of Conduct, which sets out the sustainability requirements we expect our suppliers to meet and covers management, health and safety, human rights, environment, anti-corruption and ethics. See link at top of page.
Annual audits are an important tool to help our suppliers act in accordance with our requirements. Zound Audits are based on our Supplier Code of Conduct. They focus on identified risk areas typical for our industry and locations.
A zound workplace
Our employees are the heart and soul of Zound. Their engagement and passion foster a culture that is hard to find elsewhere. We want to nurture this to build a fair and inspiring workplace where our employees thrive and develop.
Our approach
Our values are the basis of everything we do, and we encourage our employees to live them every day. Our code of conduct guides us in navigating tricky situations to uphold these values, remain ethical and retain integrity.
We train employees in Zound Play (our employee code of conduct) and anti-corruption. We train managers and workplace representatives to give them tools and guidance to better address risks in our work environment.
We've launched an initiative to train managers in our leadership principles. We've developed a community engagement strategy.
+46(0)8 59 200 500
Centralplan 15
111 20 Stockholm
Sweden