Damm signs up to the United Nations Global Compact
A further step in Damm's commitment to environmental, social and economic sustainability
Damm has signed up to the United Nations Global Compact (UN Global Compact) as a demonstration of its firm commitment to sustainability. The company joins thousands of others worldwide, taking one more step towards its goal of growing responsibly and sustainably.
Signing up to the UN Global Compact means Damm will align its operations with the universally accepted Ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment and the fight against corruption. It also implies adopting measures to support the objectives of the United Nations, as currently embodied in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which promote initiatives to eradicate poverty, protect the environment and reduce inequality.
Jorge Villavecchia, CEO of Damm, was positive about the company joining the United Nations Global Compact. "Sustainability and social responsibility are part of Damm's DNA and they drive our strategy as a company," said Villavecchia. He added, "By signing up to the UN Global Compact we reaffirm our commitment to environmental, social and economic sustainability. At Damm we foster this every day by promoting respect, equality and diversity within the company, by implementing an environmental management system based on the recovery of resources and the use of renewable materials and energy, and by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our production, distribution and waste management systems."
The United Nations Global Compact was launched by Kofi Annan in 1999 at the World Economic Summit in Davos. Almost 20 years later, with more than 12,500 member organisations in more than 160 countries, it has become the largest corporate social responsibility initiative in the world. The agreement pursues two main objectives: business organisations around the world acting responsibly, according to the UN Global Compact’s Ten Principles, in areas related to human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption, and taking action to advance the broader objectives of the United Nations, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Damm, a responsible company
In recent years, Damm has put in place a management system, based on the company's core values, that promotes policies of equality, work-life balance, healthy habits and reducing the impact on the environment. To ensure that this commitment to protecting the environment extends to the entire value chain, suppliers have been made part of this strategy, through an approval and monitoring system that establishes requirements and standards depending on the type of service or product.
Corporate social responsibility is one of the fundamental pillars of the company's strategic plan, which foresees a turnover of over 2,000 million euros in 2022. For this growth to be sustainable, the Damm team has launched an ambitious plan to ensure that the company’s production processes respect the environment as much as possible by reducing emissions and waste. Thanks to the implementation of this project, the company has reduced CO2 emissions by 59% and water consumption by 37% in the last decade.
The commitment to move from the linear economy - produce, use, throw away - to the circular economy - produce, use, regenerate or recycle, reuse - also stands out as one of the most important milestones in Damm’s progress towards efficient environmental management. This project is part of the company's global Corporate Social Responsibility plan which aims to reduce the generation of waste to a minimum, to foster efficiency in the reuse of resources and to achieve a positive environmental and social impact. This leads to the creation of a new relationship with customers, who are key to the successful implementation of the circular scheme
