With the new European directive on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSRD) due to come into force in 2025, we are increasingly receiving requests for information on how we manage the sustainability and social responsibility of our business and our suppliers. As the essence of this new regulation is transparency, we have chosen to publish in this post our approach and the measures we take on a daily basis to best assume our share of responsibility.
If you're reading this post only because you need to complete your own corporate social responsibility report, and you're a Yoctopuce customer, the quick answer you're looking for is as follows: Yoctopuce is, according to European terminology, an unlisted micro-undertaking with fewer than 10 employees, which is not subject to the obligation of producing formal reports, with the exception of very specific areas such as the reporting the use of substances of very high concern for the environment (SVHC). As a result, our customers who are subject to the obligation to exhaustively document the impact of their suppliers are released from the obligation to collect social and environmental reports from Yoctopuce, since such reports are not available (see ESRS Set 1, paragraph 71).
If you are nevertheless interested in finding out more, we have chosen to document our practices below for the sake of transparency. And if you really want a more formal assessment of Yoctopuce, you can obtain one via paid access to the IntegrityNext platform, where we have taken the time to answer the various applicable forms, but please note that you won't learn anything more than what appears below.
Own business vs. suppliers
For each topic (environmental protection, human rights, prevention of corruption, and so on), we need to distinguish two aspects: Yoctopuce's own impact, in Switzerland and towards its direct customers, and the indirect impact of Yoctopuce's suppliers, upstream. As the issue of supplier evaluation has many points in common for all topics, we will deal with it last, after having dealt with each of the topics concerning Yoctopuce's own activity.
Protecting the environment
As the environment is a major concern in Switzerland, Yoctopuce employees are well informed of their obligations regarding environmental protection. Given the small size of our company, there is naturally no formal training program on environmental risks within the company, nor any formal internal control system. It is through teamwork and the daily application of best practices that Yoctopuce ensures constant compliance with environmental protection standards.
All production waste is sorted by a local company in accordance with the Swiss directive for the environmentally-friendly disposal of electrical and electronic equipment (OREA, RS814.620). We do not export any waste. That said, we're still looking for a way to recycle the copper in our PCB offcuts rather than dispose of them, but unfortunately no one seems to be interested to date. If you hear of a solution, please let us know.
Our electronic circuits are designed to be repairable. This enables us to ensure an extremely low manufacturing loss rate, since any automatic assembly errors can almost always be corrected. We also encourage our customers to contact us to repair their modules should they become damaged, and we regularly have the opportunity to do so. We also contribute financially to electronic waste recycling schemes in many countries where they exist.
Naturally, we comply with all environmental obligations concerning restrictions on the use of substances of concern to the environment. We never use lead-based solder, and as far as possible avoid the use of lead-containing components, even when their use is permitted under exemptions and replacement involves the use of more expensive components. For all our products, we publish an exhaustive list of the electronic components used to ensure maximum transparency.
We are unable to give a formal estimate of our total carbon footprint, but we can give the following information:
- The heating of our premises is of 100% renewable origin (district heating network, supplied with wood from local forests).
- The electricity purchased by Yoctopuce is of 100% renewable origin (guaranteed by the Services Industriels de Genève, according to the Swiss federal system of guarantees of origin).
- By dividing Yoctopuce's total electricity consumption by the number of modules produced, we obtain the electricity consumption in Switzerland required to design and manufacture Yoctopuce modules, which amounts to 0.75 kWh per module, or around 120g CO2e.
- To compute the total CO2 footprint of our modules, we need to add the energy footprint of manufacturing and shipping the module components, solder paste, and PCBs. For the transport of supplies, we estimate an average impact of 250g CO2e per module, based on transport by cargo plane from Asia, in some cases via a distributor in America. For the manufacture of the components themselves, based on industry averages we also estimate the footprint at around 250g CO2e, which would bring the total footprint of a Yoctopuce module to between 600 and 700g CO2e.
To pack the modules and accessories, we still often use plastic-based bags, including antistatic bags, for want of a better solution. This represents a few extra grams of CO2e each time. We are experimenting with the use of paper-based bags, but have not yet found an ideal solution that avoids tearing.
Finally, with regard to cushioning materials for shipping, you may have noticed that we don't always use the same solutions. As far as possible, we reuse cushioning materials received from our suppliers when they are suitable, such as bubble wrap. When this is not the case, we only use cushioning products made from 100% recycled paper. We strive to reduce the size and weight of the boxes to the minimum necessary to minimize the impact of transport.
Protection of human rights and workers' rights
Swiss law guarantees a high level of protection for workers' rights. Forced labor and child labor are naturally prohibited. In addition, companies in the electronics sector in Geneva are subject to a compulsory collective agreement which guarantees employees conditions that exceed federal law requirements, particularly in terms of vacations and minimum wages. This agreement is fully respected at Yoctopuce, where management takes care to keep abreast of developments on a regular basis. Yoctopuce employs all its staff directly in Geneva and does not use subcontractors or temporary workers.
Discrimination against employees based on gender, religion or origin is not tolerated. The small size of our company and the fact that the whole team works in a common space serve as implicit screening for discrimination.
Because of its small size, Yoctopuce has no difficulty in properly training its employees on the risks involved in using production machinery. As the company's managers are directly involved in production, they are just as interested as everyone else in ensuring a healthy working environment for everyone.
For the rest, Yoctopuce is naturally not certified to any standard such as SA8000 or ISO 45001, but our customers are always welcome to drop in unannounced if they wish to check out our working conditions...
Fighting corruption
Given Yoctopuce's small size, there is little specialization in the roles played by our various departments. Exchanges of e-mails with customers are systematically made via the customer support e-mail address, and are received by several people. As a result, the whole team is kept constantly informed of all customer interactions, minimizing the risk of personal gain.
Supplier responsibility
Unlike the major players in the electronics market, Yoctopuce does not have the means to force suppliers to adopt social, ethical and environmental standards, or even to provide guarantees as to the standards they claim to follow. Nevertheless, just as consumers can influence the evolution of producers' social, ethical and environmental standards through their choice of products, Yoctopuce can also contribute to this movement through its choice of suppliers.
When it comes to choosing a component to integrate into our products, we systematically evaluate the supplier on the basis of its readiness to provide the documentation required to comply with environmental standards, its knowledge of the standards, the accuracy of the documents, and the way in which they are written. The question of human rights protection, on the other hand, is much harder for us to assess from a distance. On the specific topic of conflict minerals (3TG, CMRT, Dodd-Frank act), given that Yoctopuce does not import metal-stage products and only operates with electronic components beyond the metal stage, we don't have any obligation imder European regulation with regards to CMRT and 3TG. But as a precautionary principle, we endeavor to collect our suppliers' commitments on this topic, when available.
Generally speaking, this leads us to favor the major manufacturers, who back up their commitments with formal standards and external audits, even if these are unfortunately not a 100% guarantee. As mentioned above, we systematically publish the list of electronic components included in our products, including the name of the manufacturer, so you can check whom we've chosen to trust. At our level, this is the best we can do.
Conclusion
Without claiming to be exemplary, we strive to do our work while respecting as closely as possible to our environmental, social and ethical convictions. Given Yoctopuce's small size, we generally favor transparency and common sense over the purchase of costly certifications, which can sometimes prove misleading.
If you need specific information on an aspect not described in this document, don't hesitate to contact us by e-mail. However, if you could refrain from sending us a spreadsheet with 100 questions to fill in, the answers to which appear in this post, we'd appreciate it :-)
