BERGAMO, Italy — October 18, 2016 — The Group has published its Sustainability Report 2015: investments of over EUR 30 million to support Group company competitiveness. Commitment to improving production plant efficiency and environmental performance. Continuous communication with stakeholders. More hours of training and education for employees. Effort and action towards a sustainable supply chain. Parent company Radici Partecipazioni achieves ISO 9001:2015 certification.
A content rich Report that gives a faithful picture of RadiciGroup’s industrial activities by providing data, figures and results on economic, social and environmental sustainability. The 2015 Sustainability Report of Radici Partecipazioni SpA and associated companies was officially presented this past 10 October at the parent company’s Bergamo headquarters in the presence of some of the company’s main stakeholder groups.
The Report was draw up in accordance with the “Global Reporting Initiative – Version 4 Core Level”. External assurance was provided by the certification body Certiquality.
The reporting perimeter of this 2015 Report includes data from 21 companies. Seventy people were engaged in the preparation of the Report and 27 performance indicators (quantitative and qualitative) have been included.
In 2004, the Group published its first sustainability Report. In the years since then, many of the commitments taken on by RadiciGroup have been put into practice: in 2015, the Group generated sales revenues in excess of EUR 1 billion and net total value added (the amount redistributed to all the stakeholders) of over EUR 183 million.
“In these twelve years,” said Angelo Radici, president of RadiciGroup, “our Group has noticeably changed its strategic vision, progressively putting sustainability at the centre of its activities. Greater attention has been paid to both internal and external stakeholders, the environmental impact of products and processes has been reduced, industrial plants have become more advanced, and there is a more open attitude towards innovation and a strong commitment to employee training and
education. These have been our main success stories and they remain our ongoing challenges.”
As better explained in the Report, RadiciGroup has noticeably reduced the environmental impact of its activities: in the three-year period 2013-2015, the consumption of primary energy from fossil sources was reduced by 14.3%, while the use of renewable source energy increased by 4.2%. Seven Group companies (situated in Italy, Brazil and Germany) use 100% renewable source energy.
On the environmental performance front, during the same 2013-2015 period, the Group reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 21.6% and pollutant emissions by 60.5%, thus continuing its journey on the virtuous path of mitigating the environmental impact of its corporate activities – a journey the parent company and its subsidiaries started many years ago. Only in 2015, investments to support the competitiveness of RadiciGroup companies were EUR 30 million, of which EUR 2.5 million on environmental issues alone, specifically for the introduction of Best Available Techniques, energy efficiency improvement, emission reduction, research and development, and product and process improvement.
“The results achieved are certainly good reasons for satisfaction,” Angelo Radici continued. ”It is, however, opportune to look beyond our initial objectives and raise the bar to constantly keep up with a rapidly evolving world.”
Other key elements dealt with in depth in the Report are employee training (+15.8 %), which always constitutes a strategic asset for the development of human resources, and the constant commitment to realizing products with limited environmental impact, developed in accordance with the European Product Environmental Footprint guidelines, as well as the principles of eco-design and the circular economy.
Also important is the effort the Group is spending for the development of a sustainable supply chain, both upstream and downstream, which can be achieved by keeping two words in mind: knowledge and collaboration. Knowledge of its own business activities, its suppliers and customers, and constant communication and collaboration with both of these two stakeholder categories. Implementation of corporate procedures, monitoring of supplier selection criteria taking into consideration sustainability aspects, and signing of a Code of Conduct by suppliers and customers: these are the elements that have helped to give a clearer direction to RadiciGroup’s path towards a sustainable supply chain.
Finally, it is worth stressing that Radici Partecipazioni SpA, the Group parent company, obtained ISO 9001:2015 certification. It is the first of the Group companies to be certified in accordance with the new edition of the ISO standard, which includes key changes relating to the definition of the organization context and emphasis on risk-based management.
Posted October 18, 2016
Source: RadiciGroup
