Florim has published the 13th edition of its Sustainability Report, a document that provides a transparent, concise description of the company’s 2020 results in economic, social and environmental terms and also sets out the goals planned for the near future.
This edition of the Sustainability Report recounts Florim’s transformation into a Benefit Corporation and the achievement of B Corp Certification, two fundamental milestones on the path to sustainability chosen by the company more than 13 years ago and the foundation for the goals set for the next three years.
“I believe that, as well as its terrible consequences, the ‘war’ we have all had to fight has generated a greater awareness of how important our actions in the present are for the prospects for the future,” stated Chairman Claudio Lucchese in his letter to stakeholders. “Coinciding, by chance, with the outbreak of the pandemic, Florim has been transformed into a Benefit Corporation, to express its commitment to safeguarding the environment and society with even greater determination.
“Although these values are already intrinsic to our business model, this change has publicly proclaimed our desire to be an organization that helps to improve the environment, through operations where the balance between the resources produced and those extracted to produce them is a positive one, to the benefit of our planet.”
Highlights of the Sustainability Report include:
Florim can currently self-produce up to 100% of electricity in optimal weather conditions. In the future, if total self-sufficiency is not achieved, Florim will purchase the missing energy exclusively from renewable sources with a certificate of origin.
Florim will encourage green mobility by installing new charging stations for electric cars and will expand the company fleet with the addition of plug-in hybrid vehicles.
The company will continue to offer economic support to the local community and will introduce innovative technologies to encourage and motivate employees’ professional growth through training activities (microlearning).
On the economic side, Florim recorded consolidated sales of over €380 million. The last nine years have seen investments of €450 million, €50 million of which has been in “green” projects, and 2020 witnessed a strengthening of the international presence with the opening of the new Flagship Stores in Frankfurt and London, as well as a showroom in Abu Dhabi, bringing the total number of corporate spaces in strategic global design hubs to seven.
One important investment was Florim Connections, a new form of digital communication designed to maintain the dialogue with the main players on the world market and illustrate new products to them using the very latest film and TV technologies.
The key environmental achievements were headed by the 95,144 tons of CO2 not emitted from 2012 to the present days (12,593 tons during 2020), equivalent to the CO2 absorbed by 68,203 trees. This result was made possible by the energy generated by the photovoltaic panels, the cogeneration plants and good practice in the management of plastic packaging.
Particularly noteworthy in social responsibility were the Florin Care health and safety protection protocol and the support provided by the Fondazione Ing. Giovanni Lucchese to health care organizations and institutions in fighting the pandemic, as well as to the neediest households in the ceramic district.
