The 4 pillars to reach the sustainable development objectives

There is no distinction between company and people: Gefran is its people. With its own specific features, each contributes to a fundamental asset for long-term value creation. Gefran is Beyond Technology and beyond technology you have people: the promise is to create value for all stakeholders through a professional organisation which people enjoy belonging to. The Group has set ambitious goals in terms of quality of life within the company and outside it, health and safety in the workplace, equal opportunities for professional growth and career development, respect for diversity and customer satisfaction.
For this reason, it is crucial to provide employees with ongoing quality training focused on key skills development and awareness of the importance of ESG aspects for corporate performance. To strengthen this dimension, Gefran considers it important to introduce MBOs and performance bonuses upon achievement of purely ESG objectives.
Awareness around sustainability also means educating in respect of diversity and inclusion, an objective that, internally, will be pursued by creating a dedicated community and, externally, through educational activities in local schools aimed at encouraging girls to study STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
This involves the introduction of an integrated management system and the promotion of a safety culture. The goal is ambitious: zero accidents at work.
Cyber security also depends on the human factor: the goal is to maintain a medium-to-low level of IT risk through employee training and the use of advanced technologies.
Particular attention is paid to customer satisfaction: a two-year listening course has been created to meet expectations and increase satisfaction

In order to counter the negative effects of climate change, the international community has set itself a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030, and of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Achieving these objectives requires the implementation of energy efficiency strategies and the deployment of energy from renewable sources.
These issues have characterised and guided governments’ actions in recent years, but have further accelerated following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing conflict. Accelerating the energy transition to stop relying on electricity produced through fossil fuels from Russia has become a very short-term objective and has fostered further investment in electricity produced from alternative and renewable sources. Gefran will be involved in these challenges with a decarbonisation strategy (providing more levers and involving the entire value chain, from suppliers to the end customer) and an investment plan that will ensure the energy efficiency of plants and that all energy used is from certified renewable sources. This process, which has already started, will be completed by 2025.

Supply innovation must take into account the principles of environmental protection and natural ecosystems. Hence Gefran’s commitment to responsible consumption of resources, resulting in an
eco-sustainable approach to the development of new products and
the use of components made from recycled materials. Evaluating
sustainable components in the early stages of the product life
cycle (PLC) has led the company to strengthen interaction between
the Innovation and Technology Development and Purchasing departments, aimed at identifying sustainable materials and defining the trade-off thresholds between cost and material sustainability level.
To this end, training initiatives will be launched on the PLC, enhanced by a sustainability analysis.
The Group intends to invest the resources needed to develop a commercial strategy and achieve 15% of its total turnover from innovative, sustainable products within five 5 years.
The pillar of low-impact, innovative products includes the packaging component. Packaging, often made to be disposed of, feeds a linear economy based on waste. Gefran intends to promote the circular economy by using fully recyclable packaging that reconciles respect for the environment, minimising waste and packaging functionality, starting with product protection. The project will be divided into three phases: mapping the composition of the product packaging and the logistics packaging; identification of the materials to be replaced; evaluation of alternatives, up to the development of specific projects, such as increasing the percentage of recyclable packaging for each product family.
The Smart Manufacturing project aiming for paperless production is part of this design. The project includes an initial analysis of the use of paper in production and business activities. A pilot project for the complete digitisation of information, including the technical documentation on the output product, will then be carried out.
With the gradual improvement of processes, Gefran also aims to reduce production waste and to ensure lower input consumption.
This will mean defining KPIs on the generation of waste for each assembly line and periodically analysing the economically relevant aspects. The monitoring outcome will also generate projects to eliminate/reduce the causes of waste or monitor variables directly or indirectly related to waste.

Gefran constantly monitors the strength of the supply chain, which has received a growing amount of attention from stakeholders and institutions in recent years, as a result of increased exposure to disruption risks. Proper chain due diligence is now considered essential.
The aim of the Group is to gradually ensure that the majority of supplies adhere to the Sustainability Pact. In particular, this includes suppliers contributing to 80% of purchases, labour-intensive suppliers, waste disposal suppliers and suppliers whose product or service explicitly mentions a point expressed in the Sustainability Pact. The project will develop in several stages before reaching all foreign branches.
In order to verify compliance with the criteria of the Sustainability Pact and, more generally, assess areas for improvement in relations with suppliers, the objective envisages a multi-annual audit plan for the Group’s main suppliers up to total coverage.
In addition, Gefran undertakes to implement initiatives to ensure up-to-date and easy-to-use data is collected on conflict minerals, in accordance with the European Regulation 2017/821, establishing duty and diligence obligations in the supply chain for importers in the European Union of tin, tantalum, tungsten, minerals and gold originating in conflict or high risk areas.
The Group’s objective is to reduce the share of waste for landfill or incineration to 30% and develop plans to increase the share of waste for reuse and recycling.