EMUCA, in its continuous search for excellence, has for years had sustainability very much in mind as a concept on which to establish its foundations as a company. Initially, a commitment was made to the Sustainable Development Goals, starting to focus on SDG 3 (Health and Wellbeing), 5 (Gender Equality), 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and 12 (Responsible Production and Consumption), but within the current reality, both in terms of the environment and the need to grow in a responsible manner, the need to take action in a more intense and continuous way emerged.
For this reason, in 2022, we began to consolidate Emuca’s so-called Road to Sustainability, through the implementation of internal and external resources, aimed at shaping a project with a clear medium- to long-term objective: to make EMUCA a benchmark for its stakeholders in terms of environmental protection, the search for social and gender equality and responsible consumption and production. It is not a simple path, nor is it a quick one, but each turn will help to strengthen the commitment and to try to make this message permeate the length and breadth of the organisation.
With the collaboration of the specialised consultancy firm DAINE Ambiental, EMUCA’s Quality area established a plan with the following milestones:
1. Diagnosis of the current state of the organisation’s sustainability: it was necessary to highlight all the work carried out by EMUCA to date in terms of sustainability and to give it the visibility and importance it required. Likewise, to try to see the opportunities for improvement that were opening up once the journey had begun.
2. Sustainability market study of EMUCA’s stakeholders: through an analysis of the sector, competitors and customers, as well as general regulations on environmental, social and governance issues, it was crucial to be able to identify where these focal points and needs are, as well as their timing.
3. EMUCA’s sustainability materiality: to increase EMUCA’s objectives from the initial 6 already mentioned, to represent, both in quantity and quality, those SDGs on which EMUCA needed to work, both because of the impact on these matters and because of the dependencies that these issues suggested. Therefore, a new commitment was reached by adding SDGs 1 (End Poverty), 4 (Quality Education), 13 (Climate Action), 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and 17 (Partnership to Achieve the Goals) to the SDGs.
4. Study of internal processes: Environmental DAINE’s need to analyse the organisation from the outside helped EMUCA to identify, with the vision and mission of sustainability in mind, many of the processes that could now become critical.
5. Calculation of the Carbon Footprint: EMUCA calculated its carbon footprint in scopes 1 and 2 for the year 2021, thus establishing the baseline on which to carry out a series of annual measurements that will allow it to take more adjusted and calibrated decarbonisation actions. On the other hand, it was established as an objective to increase the scope of this footprint, although not covering all of scope 3 in the short term, but adding some of the processes that belong to the organisation’s value chain and that are vital to its environmental and climate change impacts and dependencies, such as logistics processes.
6. Design and implementation of a scorecard of sustainability indicators: specific to this area and oriented towards the 11 SDGs of the new materiality established. This scorecard, with asymmetrical periodicity (quarterly, half-yearly and annual) will make it possible to ascertain EMUCA’s development in environmental, social equality and governance matters over time, to compare them throughout the measurement periods and thus be able to establish better, more adjusted and efficient action plans.
7. Establishment of an Action Plan for the year 2023: based on the sustainability market study and the process study, a series of specific actions are being established that will enable EMUCA not only to maintain its commitment to sustainability but also to improve its performance and achieve the excellence that is the leitmotiv of its journey as a company.
8. Improvement of the sustainability communication plan: through strategic planning, oriented both internally and externally, EMUCA considers it necessary to publicise the what, how and when of the actions carried out in this area. On the other hand, the need to raise awareness among all employees, so that they feel part of the process and support the organisation in achieving its objectives.
To sum up, this is only the beginning of a slow and slow road, but without rest, in which EMUCA puts all its effort and available resources to be able to join the bandwagon of pioneering companies and benchmarks in the triple impact: environmental, social and economic.
