For the fifth year in a row, Sidenor publishes its Sustainability Report – Non-financial information Statement 2021.
The 2021 report compiles the company’s ESG commitment regarding the three big challenges of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental sustainability. Thus, we again express our commitment to transparency, value creation and fluid communication.
Care for the environment, respect for the local community and agents of our value chain, circular economy, digitisation, innovation and talent promotion are the axes of this annual report.
DISCOVER OUR SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2021
In 2021, we hadn’t emerged from this health crisis yet when energy – both electrical and gas – took a catastrophic turn, with price increases that were unprecedented in the history of the Company. And yet, Sidenor was able, in this highly unfavourable context, to carry out a profound technological transformation in its facilities, which places us in optimal conditions to address the needs of our customers in the future.
The challenge is now to take a leap forward and nothing, nowadays, makes probably more sense than giving priority to environmental sustainability. At Sidenor, we have decided to turn respect for the environment into a competitive advantage. We want to be the first European special steel manufacturer to provide its customers with green steel, with net-zero CO2 emissions. For this purpose, Sidenor will deploy a large-scale strategic plan which will include the totality of its industrial processes.
First of all, the Company will maintain its actions aiming at ensuring an electricity supply of fully renewable origin, including, if necessary, the purchase of wind and photovoltaic generation assets. In addition, Sidenor will launch projects to improve its energy efficiency in all its facilities, which will translate into a significant decrease in emissions.
We will not, however, limit ourselves to CO2, although it is the axis of all actions aimed at controlling climate change. More broadly, we have launched numerous initiatives with the aim of minimising all types of emissions into the atmosphere, as well as reducing and, in addition, recovering the vast majority of our waste.
In addition, we continue to promote, as the pillars of our activity, concepts such as the safety of all employees who work in our facilities, as well as innovation and continuous improvement, with the aim of providing our customers with a better service and having an increasingly positive impact on the society. We have one ambition: to become a reference for our surroundings.
For this purpose, our human resources include close to 1,800 people, to which we maintain a strong commitment. We strive to provide them with the best possible place to work and develop their careers, while constantly looking out for their safety, which is a priority for the Company. Likewise, we work to promote gender equality as well as access to knowledge and training, and to improve the way to identify and develop talent within the Company.
Innovation for further growth
Each year, we make significant investments in innovation, which is one of the pillars of our activity. Our R&D centre, one of the largest in the European steel sector, enables us to develop new technologies and products which help us meet the needs of our customers.
Along the same lines, we are transforming Sidenor so as to become a reference with regard to Industry 4.0, improving and digitising our production processes for better efficiency, safety and quality in order to become increasingly competitive.
In a sustainable way. Our ESG commitment
At Sidenor, we do not only pay attention to what we do, but also to how we do it. For years, sustainability has been integrated in the entire value chain. For this purpose, we support projects and initiatives which generate more responsible practices and bring value to the society. At Sidenor, we work in favour of sustainability in various action areas: people, environment, society, ethics and business transparency.
Sidenor and the Sustainable Development Goals
SDGs are a universal call on governments, society and companies to endorse compliance with the United Nations 2030 Agenda. At Sidenor, we adhere to this initiative by fostering these objectives, notably:
- Goal 3: Improving the safety and health of the people who work in our facilities is a constant commitment in the Company. In addition, Sidenor has launched the Healthy Company project in order to promote the development of healthy habits among our workers.
- Goal 4: We promote the training of employees and young people in our surroundings on skills that are key to our business and future work demands.
- Goal 5: Our policies enable us to offer equal chances to all people and reject all types of discrimination based on gender, race or religion. In 2018, this approach led to the signature of Sidenor’s first Equality Plan, which is currently in force.
- Goal 9: The innobars concept by Sidenor ensures the application of the knowledge acquired thanks to over 30 years of experience in our R&D department regarding the development of sustainable and safe products and processes, manufacturing in modernised facilities and the use of the latest possibilities of Industry 4.0, finding solutions for our customers’ needs and significantly exceeding their value expectations.
- Goal 12: We implement the principle of continuous improvement in the use of raw materials in order to use them in a responsible manner while committing to recovering an increasing percentage of the waste we generate.
- Goal 13: We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint by entering into measurable commitments.
In essence, at Sidenor, we are building, in collaboration with all actors of our value chain, a path towards achieving business excellence in order to continue growing in a sustainable way and secure our future.