Spanish international composing house Eurofragance has published its 2023 sustainability report following its recent EcoVadis platinum rating. It shows significant progress, particularly in reducing direct emissions and water consumption.
Eurofragance's sustainable development actions focus on four main areas: safety throughout the value chain, commitment to the community, resource management and ethical business practices with our partners.
With the aim of reducing its environmental footprint while improving its positive social impact, last year the multinational took on new sustainability challenges, while increasing its sales by 20 %. "We have been able to increase our profitability by combining an ambitious market strategy with complex environmental and social responsibility objectives."says CEO Laurent Mercier.
Respect for people...
In its report, Eurofragance highlights several initiatives aimed at supporting its employees. For example, its "Workplace Flexibility and Well-being Program", which called on the services of an external psychologist, or its "Continuous Learning Plan" aimed at developing cross-functional skills in departments and subsidiaries, have been rolled out across all regions.
Gender parity in the workforce: Eurofragance emphasizes that its workforce is balanced (52 % women, 48 % men) and highlights an overall policy of fair wages. Women are well represented in management and executive positions.
The company has focused much of its efforts on "health and safety at work" (for its own employees) and on "customer health and safety", from suppliers to consumers. Its accident rate remains lower than the industry average.
... and resources
Eurofragance has created several indicators to measure its ESG achievements. These focus mainly on reducing resource use and waste production, while increasing recycling and reuse rates.
Hand in hand with our partners
Between 2021 and 2023, the company reduced its water consumption by 16 % and last year its direct emissions by 31 %. At the same time, it has reduced its use of plastic by reusing wooden pallets for 78 % of its European shipments and replacing single-use pipettes with glass cannulas in its laboratories.
Other resource-oriented measures include recycling outsourced mouillettes (strips of spray paper used to test fragrances) and turning them into notebooks, as well as electrifying the company's car fleet and increasing the efficiency of its solar panels.
"We are working closely with our partners to, together, ensure that we can address the UN's SDGs that apply to our industry. This covers actions relating to the environment, business ethics and good governance."says Diana March, Chief Sustainability & Technical Compliance Officer at Eurofragance, whose responsibilities include publishing the company's annual sustainability report.
In particular, the report shows that 44 % of the Spanish perfume house's main suppliers are members of Sedex, an organization focused on managing sustainable practices along supply chains; 91 % have a code of ethics and 66 % of supplier partners have signed Eurofragance's code of ethics, representing 88 % of the company's purchasing value.
"For us in the fragrance industry, sourcing is the area that has the greatest impact on sustainable development. We are committed to continuing to work with our suppliers and partners to promote a more sustainable planet."Diana March continues.
Photo from the Eurofragance presentation video.
