As done every year since 2014, I am pleased to present our new Sustainability Report 2021, in which we gathered and synthetized the main data and events happened during this exercise.
Dear readers,
For Gonvarri Industries, 2021 marked the culmination of our third Strategic Plan, corresponding to the 2019-2021 period. These three years have been characterized by an extremely volatile, uncertain and complex period due to the Covid-19 pandemic and international political, social and economic tensions, however, and despite the difficulties experienced, we have managed to culminate by making progress in the main axes of the plan: diversification, value creation, digitalization and sustainability. Thanks to this progress, we are now a more diversified group and better positioned to grow in emerging sectors.
The gradual recovery from the pandemic invited us to be optimistic about the reactivation of industrial activity from the second half of 2021, but the tensions in the supply chain with delays and serious supply problems in some industries, and the subsequent upward spiral in the prices of raw materials and energy, have placed us before a quite different scenario. As if this were not enough, the war in Ukraine is exacerbating and prolonging these effects, adding even more uncertainty and complexity to the future.
In parallel to this difficult situation, the structural changes driven by global trends such as digitalization, automation, circularity and decarbonization are marking the transformation of industry. In response to this challenging environment, at Gonvarri, we have defined a new Strategic Plan for the three-year period 22-24, which, based on our industrial activity, will continue to drive growth and diversification in technological and innovative projects in markets with high development potential. We believe that the energy transformation, with hydrogen and renewable energies at the forefront, and the unstoppable evolution of sustainable mobility, with the electric car as the main exponent, will be some of the important growth vectors for the coming years.
In relation to the company’s operations, the last Strategic Plan consolidated the commitment to become a more sustainable company, with progress in reducing the consumption of resources, waste generation and reduction of environmental impact, highlighting the recovery of waste generated of over 90%. In the area of energy transformation, the accumulated savings of 17GWh/year in energy consumption thanks to the more than 90 energy savings and efficiency initiatives implemented are noteworthy. Also, in the area of self-consumption, I want to highlight the recent commissioning of 4 new solar photovoltaic installations in our factories, with a total production of more than 7MW.
In terms of sustainability and emission reduction, the new Strategic Plan lays the foundations on which to meet the future decarbonisation commitments set out in the company’s Carbon Neutral Plan; progress toward robust emissions accounting, electricity supply from renewable sources guaranteed in long-term bilateral contracts, recurring energy saving measures and the study of new energy vectors should lead us to significant reductions in CO2 emissions from our activities in the coming years. Furthermore, the industrial-scale implementation of circular economy projects, which have been tested at the laboratory level, will improve the operational efficiency of the group’s pickling and galvanizing processes. Gonvarri is committed
to a circular model in its processes, which contributes to the decarbonization of the steel value chain.
We believe that only genuinely sustainable products will have a place in the future and that sustainability is a fundamental requirement for the long-term success of any business. With this vision, and an open attitude toward new alternatives in the management of talent and diversity, the Gonvarri Group and all the professionals who form part of this great project work every day to offer our clients the level of excellence to which they are accustomed.
By reading this Sustainability Report for 2021, I invite you to take a closer look at our environmental, social and governance performance in 2021.
Thank you very much.
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