Governing for Sustainability

Corporate governance is the foundation of effective and ethical corporate management, defining the structures and processes that guide decision-making, accountability, and transparency. At Matelec, corporate governance is integral to our sustainability strategy, ensuring that responsible practices are embedded across all aspects of our operations.

Corporate policies serve as the foundation for ethical decision-making, ensuring compliance, transparency, and a unified corporate culture. These policies, approved by our Board of Directors, formalize our commitments to the environment, our workforce, and society, aligning with global standards such as the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the ILO Core Conventions on Labour Standards.

We use third-party certification to international standards to set our direction and internal group objectives that ensure our environmental management system produces measurable results. Our environmental management system, certified under ISO 14001, sets the processes and practices that enable us to reduce our environmental impact and increase our operating efficiency.

We are steadfast in promoting a culture of integrity by preventing conflicts of interest, requiring all employees and board members to disclose potential conflicts. Our Code of Conduct reinforces these principles, providing clear guidelines on ethical behavior and accountability. To maintain open communication, we have established accessible grievance mechanisms. Employees, business partners, and stakeholders can report concerns confidentially, with dedicated channels for Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) projects. Our human resources team ensures that grievances are addressed promptly and transparently. By integrating these policies across all operations and fostering a speak-up culture, we have strengthened our commitment to responsible business practices, ensuring trust, fairness, and long-term value creation.
Grievances can be submitted via email to [email protected].

At Matelec, we are dedicated to making a positive impact. We are committed to driving sustainable development, fostering a more equitable and inclusive society, and expanding access to affordable, clean energy.

Aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined in Agenda 2030, we take responsibility for advancing global sustainability efforts. Our business model directly supports three key SDGs: ensuring access to affordable and clean energy, promoting industry, innovation, and infrastructure, and building sustainable cities and communities.

Our sustainability strategy aligns with 15 of the 17 SDGs, reflecting our broad and integrated approach to addressing global challenges. Through a rigorous materiality analysis, we have identified seven strategic focal points that guide our commitment to responsible leadership, environmental stewardship, and workforce development.

To turn vision into action, we have established eight priority commitments, each designed to drive measurable progress in our focus areas and reinforce our contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.Together, we are shaping a more sustainable future, one that balances innovation, responsibility, and long-term impact.

Through a strong governance framework, we upholds transparency, accountability, and sustainability at every level, reinforcing our commitment to responsible leadership and long-term value creation.

Sustainability through the Value Chain

At Matelec, we believe that strong partnerships with our suppliers, customers, and end-users are key to driving innovation, ensuring product excellence, and upholding the highest ethical standards. As a leader in electrical equipment and engineering solutions, we expect our suppliers to adhere to strict business ethics and human rights principles, reinforcing our shared commitment to integrity and sustainability. Sustainable Procurement Policy spells out our expectations regarding our business partners’ human rights, working conditions, health and safety, environmental and anti-corruption practices. We require all major suppliers to adhere to our Supplier Code of Conduct and have environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance criteria into our supplier evaluation procedures. Understanding that transitioning to sustainable operations takes time, we are committed to supporting our suppliers, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as they adjust to our sustainable procurement processes. In 2024, we launched an engagement campaign to introduce our new procurement requirements, with major suppliers undergoing immediate screening and signing our Supplier Code of Conduct, while smaller suppliers have a phased transition. We aim to have all major suppliers onboarded and evaluated by 2026, reinforcing our vision of a responsible and sustainable supply chain.

International Sustainability Cooperation

Matelec has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact since 2022 and is committed to supporting the 10 Principles of this international and voluntary framework, relating to respect for human rights, international labor standards, the environment and the fight against corruption. We have integrated the United Nations’ SDGs for 2030 into our sustainability approach. These objectives are deployed across our core businesses and through actions and initiatives at our head office and operational subsidiaries. As an active regional partner to this global agenda, our staff participate in major regional accelerators on advancing sustainability issues in a corporate environment and share best practices on responsible business conduct in the Middle East.

Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions

We are committed to reducing our operational greenhouse gas emissions by 31% by 2030, compared to 2022 levels across all three scopes. This journey begins with optimizing energy use, transitioning to carbon-free energy sources, working closely with suppliers to reduce embedded emissions, and continuously innovating to minimize the environmental impact of its products throughout their lifecycle.

We are making significant strides in our transition to renewable energy, steadily increasing our reliance on solar power. Since 2021, the company’s 800kW solar panel facility has been supplying 13% of its total energy needs. Building on this success, we are  further expanding our renewable energy capacity to cover 50% of our electricity needs in 2025. The majority of Matelec’s emissions—over 98%—originate from our supply chain and product lifecycle. These emissions result primarily from the production of raw materials such as steel, aluminum, and copper, as well as from the energy loss of transformers over their extended lifespan. To reduce our impact on climate change, we are designing more energy-efficient transformers and working closely with suppliers to encourage cleaner production processes. Through these measures, we have successfully reduced our carbon intensity, bringing emissions down from 33 tons of CO₂ per MVA produced in 2022 to 23 tons in 2023. We remain dedicated to enhancing emissions tracking, strengthening collaboration with suppliers, and further integrating renewable energy to achieve our 2030 sustainability goals. Through continuous innovation and proactive environmental stewardship, we are making meaningful progress toward a low-carbon future.

Protecting resources and Reducing Waste

We are committed to maximizing resource efficiency and minimizing waste across our operations. By embedding circularity into every stage of transformer production—from design to manufacturing and throughout the supply chain—Matelec aims to create zero-waste transformers. A key focus is reducing landfill waste by diverting factory waste to recycling partners and enhancing the recyclability of its products. In 2023, over 90% of waste from our manufacturing facilities and head office was sent to local recycling facilities, including 100% of waste steel, cardboard, nylon, plastic, and wood.

Our transformers are designed for longevity, lasting 25 to 30 years, and are highly recyclable at the end of their life cycle. More than 90% of the materials used in their construction—including steel, copper, cellulose, and insulating liquid—are recyclable.

We protect our natural water resources by treating and reusing our wastewater effluent. An on-site water treatment facility treats process water, including the effluent from our painting station, and recirculates it for reuse and irrigation in the gardens surrounding our facility. We regularly monitor the quality of our wastewater effluent to ensure compliance with local environmental regulations.

Eco-designing the future

In 2022, we introduced Green and SMART Green transformers, designed to minimize environmental impact throughout their lifecycle production, use, and end-of-life, while enhancing user safety and supporting the transition to cleaner energy. We’ve committed to offering our Green transformer as an eco-friendly alternative to traditional ones, and the SMART Green transformer for grid operators adapting to fluctuations. Our Green Transformer features ester-filled insulation, which offers several key benefits: a higher fire resistance, biodegradability, and a reduced need for fire safety measures and containment. This leads to lower maintenance costs, while also allowing the transformer to operate at higher temperatures without compromising its lifespan. We are also committed to sustainable sourcing, working with suppliers to adopt clean production technologies like using sponge iron in steel manufacturing to cut emissions by 70%. The SMART Green transformer builds on these environmental benefits, adding functionality to monitor and adjust voltage, current, and power factors. It’s especially ideal for integrating with intermittent renewable energy sources, like wind or solar, ensuring more stable and flexible energy grid operation.

Prioritizing Fair Compensation and Supporting Essential Needs

Matelec has committed to paying a decent living wage to all employees and external contractual workers that meets or exceeds reference living wage standards. This wage covers essential needs such as food, housing, healthcare, and education, while also accounting for unexpected events and everyday expenses.

We also recognize the importance of talent development in driving company success. To foster professional growth, we offer every employee at least 20 hours of training per year, covering both mandatory topics like quality, safety, and human rights, as well as professional development to enhance skills for current or future roles. Since formalizing our internal education program in 2022, we’ve expanded training to include software tools, communication, sustainability, and management skills. Employees are encouraged to participate in the Global Compact Academy for further learning on workplace sustainability. Our commitment extends to ongoing assessments of employees’ development needs through annual performance reviews and continuous feedback, ensuring that we support their growth and success every step of the way.

Diversity & Inclusion

We are proud to be recognized as one of Lebanon’s leading employers, taking on a vital role in supporting the growth of the local community. We are dedicated to promoting social inclusion and societal advancement by actively integrating vulnerable groups, including youth, women, and adults with disabilities. Through apprenticeship programs and other initiatives, we are contributing to the holistic development of the community.

Our human rights policy reflects our commitment to diversity, inclusion, and anti-discrimination, ensuring fairness in all aspects of employment; hiring, training, performance evaluations, compensation, and more. We have established metrics to track our diversity progress, held workshops to raise awareness, and engaged with the Global Compact Gender Equality Academy and the gender accelerator to drive gender equality across the Middle East.

Ensuring Health & Safety

The health and safety of our employees and visitors are paramount, and we maintain ISO 45001 certification to uphold this commitment. This certification has helped us establish comprehensive procedures to manage risks that could lead to illness, injury, or more severe consequences. In 2023, we expanded our reporting to include injury rates across all divisions, including engineering, contracting, and manufacturing, revealing a 30% decrease in recordable injuries and a 25% reduction in lost workdays. We have implemented several proactive measures to improve safety, such as enforcing the use of protective gear and re-evaluating mobility protocols around large machinery. These steps have significantly contributed to reducing both the number and severity of injuries. Looking ahead, our goal is to reduce our injury rate to less than 5 per million hours worked by 2030. Our efforts to enhance safety focus on setting a clear priority from the top, with the CEO regularly reinforcing safety as a company-wide value. We have improved our injury data reporting to better identify patterns and address recurring risks, which helps prevent future incidents.

Building a culture of safety is integral to our approach, and we emphasize prevention through ergonomic designs, task automation, and regular safety communications. We invest in annual training to ensure all staff are aware of potential safety hazards and how to address them.

The inclusion of safety practices in every work process is a fundamental part of our company ethos. To ensure accountability, our dedicated safety committee is responsible for monitoring safety metrics, identifying risks, and implementing corrective actions as necessary, ensuring a continuous commitment to a safe working environment.