RELX : Corporate Responsibility Report 2021 17 February 2022

Corporate Responsibility Report 2021

SDGs

Data privacy &

security

Human

rights

RELXCorporate Responsibility Report 2021	02

RELX is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers, enabling them to make better decisions, get better results and be more productive.

Our purpose is to benefit society by developing products that help researchers advance scientific knowledge; doctors and nurses improve the lives of patients; lawyers promote the rule of law and achieve justice and fair results for their clients; businesses and governments prevent fraud; consumers access financial services and get fair prices on insurance; and customers learn about markets and complete transactions.

Our purpose guides our actions beyond the products that we develop. It defines us as a company. Every day across RELX our employees are inspired to undertake initiatives that make unique contributions to society and the communities in which we operate.

Introduction

unique Our Governance contributions

People

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

We're committed to doing our part to advance these essential objectives for the world. Throughout this report, SDG icons highlight the SDGs relevant to the content.

For the RELX SDG Resource Centre, visit www.sdgresources.relx.com

Our 2021 Annual Report and Financial Statements can be found at relx.com/go/annualreport

Navigating this document

Use the tabs at the right of each page to navigate to specific sections of the 2021 RELX Corporate Responsibility Report

Contact details

Your views are important to us.

Please send your comments to

[e-mail] 

Or write to

Dr Márcia Balisciano

Global Head of ESG and Corporate Responsibility

RELX

1-3 Strand London WC2N 5JR United Kingdom

For more information, visit

www.relx.com/corporateresponsibility 

This report contains the RELX PLC Non-Financial Information Statement for the purposes of Section 414CB of the Companies Act 2006.

The use by RELX of any MSCI ESG RESEARCH LLC or its affiliates (MSCI) data,

and the use of MSCI logos, trademarks, service marks or index names herein, do not constitute a sponsorship, endorsement, recommendation, or promotion of RELX by MSCI. MSCI SERVICES and data are the property of MSCI or its information providers, and are provided 'as is' and without warranty. MSCI names and logos are trademarks or service marks of MSCI.

Customers

Community

Appendices Environment chain Supply

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Contents

User Experience Lead Specialist at Elsevier testing accessibility for products - page 53 

RX China colleagues volunteering

at the Being Stars & Rain Educational Institute - page 57 

Our best environmental impact: environmental knowledge - page 69 

Introduction

1. CEO's Statement

1. Our business
2. Our approach to corporate responsibility
3. Our CR governamce framework
4. Engagement

1. Commitment to the United Nations Global Compact
2. 2021 awards for excellence

1. 2021 investor and other recognition
2. 2021 key CR data
3. 2021-2022CR objectives

Our unique contributions

19 Why

1. 2021 objectives
2. Risk

1. Scientific, Technical & Medical

1. Legal

1. Exhibitions

1. Across RELX

1. 2022 objectives

Governance

29 Why

1. 2021 objectives
2. Governance and reporting

1. Our values
2. Helping our people pursue the highest ethical standards
3. Data privacy

32 Data security

1. Pensions and investments

1. A responsible taxpayer

1. 2022 objectives

People

35 Why

1. 2021 objectives
2. Our people
3. Gender equality
4. Race and ethnicity

1. LGBTQ+

1. Disability

1. Training and Reward
2. Support and recognition

1. Health and safety

1. Absence

1. Well-being

1. 2022 objectives

Customers

46 Why

1. 2021 objectives
2. Improving customer outcomes

1. Editorial standards
2. Digital knowledge and innovation: advancing customer goals

1. Data privacy and security
2. Responding to customer needs

1. Access to information
2. Bringing science into society

1. Accessibility

1. 2022 objectives

Community

55 Why

1. 2021 objectives

1. Giving
2. Engagement

1. Jeffrey P Mladenik and Andrew Curry-Green Memorial Scholarship
2. Impact
3. 2022 objectives

Supply chain

61 Why

1. 2021 objectives
2. Managing an ethical supply chain

1. Monitoring suppliers
2. Promoting human rights through the Supplier Code

66 2022 objectives

Environment

67 Why

1. 2021 objectives
2. Environmental risks and opportunities

1. Assessing our environmental impact
2. Climate change
3. Our Net Zero Commitment
4. Energy
5. Water

1. Waste
2. Paper
3. Book donations: supporting education in 24 countries
4. Targets and standards
5. 2022 objectives

Appendices

1. Appendix 1 - 2021 Stakeholder engagement examples
2. Appendix 2 - Business for Societal Impact assurance statement 2021
3. Appendix 3 - EY assurance statement 2021

86 Appendix 4 - Taskforce on Climate- related Financial Disclosure

1. Appendix 5 - Sustainability Accounting Standard Board (SASB) disclosure
2. Appendix 6 - Global Reporting Initiative Index
3. Appendix 7 - Blueprint for SDG Leadership

100 Appendix 8- Business Disclosures per SDG Target

106 Credits

Introduction

unique Our Governance contributions

People

Customers

Community

Appendices Environment chain Supply

RELXCorporate Responsibility Report 2021

CEO's Statement

04

Introduction

As a responsible business, we deliver value to our stakeholders.

Erik Engstrom

Chief Executive Officer

100%

Purchase of renewables through green tariff and Renewable Energy Certificates equivalent to our total electricity consumption

1,500+

Colleagues engaged in CR networks

We continued to build on our strong corporate responsibility (CR) performance during the year, further improving on our key internal metrics and extending the scope of our unique contributions.

Our unique contributions to society are at the heart of our business. When we scale our expertise and knowledge, we make a significant impact in critical areas linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): universal, sustainable access to information; protection of society and reduced inequalities; advancement of science and health; the rule of law and justice; and support for communities.

We set goals to accelerate our unique contributions, and in the year, the technology platform we built for the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, ADAM, disseminated 1.7 million alerts in over 1,800 missing children cases. We collaborated with Amref to help train 35,000 health workers, as part of Ethiopian government's COVID-19 prevention and treatment programme. We ran Rule of Law Cafes in the Philippines, Malaysia, South Africa and the UK, and conducted mapping of more than 200 RX events which indicated over 90% of our exhibitions cover SDG themes and targets. We also expanded our free RELX SDG Resource Centre with a 62% increase in content over the previous year.

In 2021, we held our first Corporate Responsibility Teach-In for our investors to discuss our approach to ESG and how we advance our unique contributions.

In addition, we progressed objectives linked to key areas facing all companies, which are also aligned with the SDGs. We continued to implement controls to increase resilience to user-based attacks and blocked approximately 5.9 million phishing attempts in a month. We advanced RELX's new inclusion goals through focused recruitment, training and development efforts and reached 44% managers as women in the business; saw 32%

of our people volunteer, despite the challenges of Covid-19, to support their communities at a critical time; and we reached 96% of suppliers on our tracking list as signatories to the RELX Supplier Code of Conduct.

We signed The Climate Pledge in 2021, which commits us to achieving net zero emissions across our direct operations and our value chain by 2040. In 2021, we reduced our energy consumption 12% over 2020. The result, which reflects the many of our people who worked from home in the year due to the continuing pandemic, accelerates a downward trajectory in our environmental impact for more than ten years.

unique Our Governance contributions

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It is important to hear the views of our colleagues. In 2021,

we conducted our most recent global employee opinion survey. Employee engagement increased 13 points to 68% compared to the previous all-RELX survey three years earlier. Results have been disseminated to people managers throughout the business to address opportunities for improvement.

We remain committed to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and its ten principles focused on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, which underpin our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct and our Supplier Code of Conduct. During 2021, we supported UNGC action platforms on decent work in global supply chains and the rule of law.

In the year ahead, there is much we aim to do. Among other corporate responsibility objectives, we will foster inclusive health through a project with the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute and Latino community scientists; advance reporting with a recognised cybersecurity framework; pilot voluntary disclosures for gender identity, sexual orientation and disability; publish the RELX Responsible Artificial Intelligence Principles; improve measurement of the impact of our charity partnerships; continue using audits to ensure consistent improvement in supplier performance and compliance; and advance reporting on Scope 3 (other) emissions.

We are pleased that our efforts are recognised externally, for which I congratulate all our people. In the year, Sustainalytics ranked us 11th overall among 14,000+ companies and first in our sector. We also held a AAA ESG rating with MSCI for a sixth consecutive year.

We will continue to strive for excellence in our corporate responsibility performance in the year ahead.

Erik Engstrom

Chief Executive Officer

05

Introduction

unique Our Governance contributions

People

Customers

Community

Appendices Environment chain Supply