SASB Electrical & Electronic Equipment

1. Identify your industry standard: Navigate to sasb.org/standards and locate the Electrical & Electronic Equipment standard. Download the free standard document, which outlines all disclosure topics and associated metrics specific to your sector.

1. Conduct a materiality assessment: Review the six disclosure topics defined in the standard — Product Safety, Hazardous Materials, Energy Management, Employee Health & Safety, Supply Chain Management, and Materials Sourcing — and assess which are most financially material to your organization.

1. Assemble your reporting team: Engage sustainability, finance, legal, and operations stakeholders who own the data underlying each metric. Assign clear ownership for data collection across departments.

1. Map existing data to SASB metrics: Audit your current data collection systems to identify gaps between what you already track and what SASB requires. This often involves EHS systems, procurement records, and energy management platforms.

1. Collect and validate data: Gather quantitative and qualitative data for each applicable metric over the reporting period (typically a fiscal year). Ensure data quality controls are in place and document your methodology.

1. Draft your disclosures: Prepare SASB-aligned disclosures for inclusion in your annual report, sustainability report, or SEC filing. Use SASB's implementation guidance and worked examples to ensure proper formatting and completeness.

1. Consider third-party assurance: Optionally engage an independent assurance provider to verify your disclosures, which can strengthen credibility with investors and ESG rating agencies.

1. Register your use and publish: Register your organization's use of SASB standards on the SASB website, then publish your disclosures. Monitor SASB for standard updates and incorporate revisions into future reporting cycles.

The SASB Electrical & Electronic Equipment standard defines six disclosure topics, each with specific quantitative and qualitative metrics that organizations are expected to report against.

Product Safety requires disclosure of the number of recalls and total units recalled, as well as the percentage of products that contain substances of concern. This topic addresses the financial risks associated with product liability and regulatory compliance.

Hazardous Materials Management covers the amount of hazardous waste generated, the percentage recycled, and the total weight of products accepted for take-back and recycled or reused. Organizations must also disclose their approach to managing materials across the product lifecycle, including compliance with regulations such as RoHS and WEEE.

Energy Management requires reporting of total energy consumed, the percentage from grid electricity, and the percentage from renewable sources. This reflects the sector's significant energy footprint in manufacturing operations.

Employee Health & Safety includes metrics on total recordable incident rate (TRIR), fatality rate, and near-miss frequency. Companies must also describe their approach to managing occupational health and safety risks in manufacturing environments.

Supply Chain Management addresses the percentage of Tier 1 supplier facilities audited to a social responsibility code of conduct, and the percentage of suppliers that have been audited and found to be in compliance. This topic reflects risks related to labor practices and human rights in global supply chains.

Materials Sourcing & Efficiency covers the percentage of products by revenue that contain IEC 62474 declarable substances, and the description of the approach to identifying and managing risks associated with the use of critical materials. This is particularly relevant given the sector's reliance on rare earth elements and conflict minerals.

SASB standards have become one of the most widely referenced sustainability disclosure frameworks globally, particularly among institutional investors and capital market participants. As of the mid-2020s, thousands of companies across 77 industries reference SASB standards in their sustainability and annual reports, with adoption concentrated among large-cap publicly traded companies in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The Electrical & Electronic Equipment standard is used by major manufacturers including Apple, Samsung, Siemens, and Honeywell, reflecting the sector's significant ESG exposure around supply chain labor, conflict minerals, and hazardous materials.

A pivotal moment for SASB's market position came in 2022 when the IFRS Foundation consolidated SASB's standard-setting activities under the newly formed International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). The ISSB's inaugural standards — IFRS S1 and S2 — explicitly incorporate SASB's industry-specific metrics as the primary vehicle for sector-level disclosure, effectively embedding SASB into the emerging global baseline for sustainability reporting. This integration has significantly elevated SASB's credibility and adoption trajectory, particularly in jurisdictions moving toward mandatory sustainability disclosure (e.g., the EU's CSRD, the SEC's climate disclosure rules, and ISSB-aligned regulations in the UK, Canada, Australia, and Japan).

Compared to alternatives, SASB occupies a distinct niche: while GRI focuses on broad stakeholder impact reporting and TCFD addresses climate-specific financial risk, SASB's investor-grade, industry-specific materiality focus fills a gap that neither framework fully addresses. CDP and ISSB frameworks increasingly cross-reference SASB metrics, reinforcing its position as a foundational layer in the global ESG disclosure ecosystem. Demand for SASB-aligned reporting is growing, driven by investor pressure, regulatory convergence, and the proliferation of ESG rating agencies that use SASB-structured data as inputs.

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) was founded in 2011 by Jean Rogers in San Francisco, California, with a mission to develop industry-specific sustainability accounting standards that help public companies disclose material, decision-useful information to investors. Modeled on the financial accounting standards-setting process, SASB was designed to fill a critical gap: while financial reporting had rigorous, sector-specific standards, sustainability reporting lacked equivalent investor-grade frameworks. SASB initially focused on the U.S. market and SEC reporting context, developing standards through a rigorous process involving industry working groups, public comment periods, and expert review.

Between 2012 and 2018, SASB developed provisional standards across 77 industries organized into 11 sectors, including the Technology & Communications sector that houses the Electrical & Electronic Equipment standard. The full suite of codified SASB Standards was formally published in 2018 following an extensive review and public comment process. A major milestone came in 2019 when SASB merged with the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) to form the Value Reporting Foundation (VRF), broadening its global reach. In 2022, the VRF — and with it, SASB's standard-setting activities — was consolidated into the IFRS Foundation, which established the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). The ISSB has since incorporated SASB's industry-specific metrics into its global sustainability disclosure standards (IFRS S1 and S2), cementing SASB's legacy as the foundational industry taxonomy for investor-focused sustainability reporting worldwide.