Our continuous commitment to reporting on Valagro’s sustainability

For around 40 years, Valagro has been working to put science at the service of nature with one goal: to help farmers get the best out of their production by optimising the use of resources and production inputs.
This goal cannot be achieved without an underlying consistency that unites not only the solutions we offer to the global market, but also our production processes and corporate culture.
The Sustainability Report is a useful tool that helps us to illustrate, year after year, our consistent and constant commitment to sustainability; it is an act of responsibility towards the wider community in which we operate and with which we hope to nurture a culture that is increasingly environmentally-friendly and attentive to the needs of the collective.

The data shown below refer to Valagro SpA's environmental, economic and corporate results.

The Valagro Group in Numbers

Introduction

In order to correctly interpret the indicators relating to the business impact of Valagro SpA's activities, we must consider the relationship between these indicators and the value of production.

The significant increase in production recorded in the three-year period 2015–2017 was achieved alongside a reduction in environmental impact indicators, as shown below.

This fact nicely summarises the effectiveness of the many interventions implemented over this period to favour the sustainability of processes and products.

Total waste

The amount of waste produced – disposed of and recycled – is recognised as one of the main indicators to be taken into account when assessing the sustainability of a company.

Values reported here include all the waste fractions generated within the Atessa plant.

Compared with 2016, waste production fell by 4%, a significant amount – especially if viewed in light of the parallel increase in production value.

Metal emissions

With regard to the reduction of atmospheric emissions, 2017 also shows a positive trend, as reported in the EMAS 2017 Environmental Statement regarding emissions considered significant (dust, metals and volatile organic compounds caused by production) and non-significant (caused by combustion plants and the chemical laboratory).

Ongoing initiatives to improve systems for the treatment of atmospheric emissions have contributed to a significant reduction in emissions, even against a backdrop of increased production.

This result has also been made possible by the careful selection of raw materials to avoid any negative externalities upstream.

VOC II - VOC III - VOC IV

As regards the emissions of volatile organic compounds (phenol, isobutyl alcohol and isobutyl acetate), it is worth noting that the value of substances belonging to class IV (isobutyl acetate) is higher than values ​​seen in other classes, which are strongly influenced by the type of products produced.

It should be noted that overall, in relation to the increase in production, the quantity of VOCs emitted decreased in comparison to 2016. Furthermore, the values always remained well below those permitted by law.

Diesel Consumption

A significant contribution to our reduced emissions derives from the reduced consumption of diesel fuel to supply the vehicles used for internal logistics.

The company continues to replace diesel-powered forklifts with electric ones, a technology that has a smaller impact in terms of emissions and also requires less maintenance.

Since 2016, many forklifts have already been replaced, and about 50% of the total fleet today is made up of electric vehicles.

Consumption of Thermic Energy

In the chemical industry, heat is an indicator of the technological level of production plants.

The reduction in heat consumption demonstrates the joint efforts of the entire company to move towards the creation of “low carbon products”, i.e. products based on sustainable raw materials resulting from high-level research and able to guarantee results with positive environmental externalities.

In 2017, a 10% decrease in the consumption of thermal energy was recorded compared with 2016: clear proof of the effectiveness of this initiative. 

Total of water withdrawal

At a global level, the scarcity of fresh water and the falling quality of water in general (seawater, rainwater and groundwater) are considered to be problems of major importance on a par with climate change.

Valagro considers water an essential asset and its focus on limiting water waste is demonstrated by the data related to the significant reduction in water withdrawal (shown in the graph).

Added Value summarises the company's ability to produce wealth to then distribute it to the various stakeholders.

Its fundamental components are the Economic Value Generated from ordinary company management and then the distribution in terms of Economic Value Distributed and Economic Value Retained.

The portion of Economic Value Distributed is divided among the main stakeholders: Suppliers, Employees, Partners - Shareholders, Central Administration, Community and the environment. On the other hand, the Economic Value Retained relates to value adjustments, anticipated and deferred taxes, provisions to reserves and profit for the year.

Economic value of Valagro SpA in millions €

From a human resources standpoint, an area which has traditionally always been a key facet of the Sustainability Report, 2017 saw the completion of several strategic initiatives designed to maximize the potential of our staff and help them grow within the organization: the Group Performance Management System (GPMS), initially implemented in 2016, was completed in January 2017 with the inclusion of our Indian subsidiary in the system.
The main objective of the GPMS is to help employees to achieve an excellent level of performance, promoting constructive, ongoing dialogue between managers and personnel. In addition, the GPMS tool also allows employees to measure the level of proficiency and skill achieved each year by way of targets updated on an annual basis.