KARIZIA RESPONSIBILITY
THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Dear readers,
Karizia is pleased to officially introduce its first Sustainability Report, for the year 2020. In this report you will find our Sustainability Vision and our corporate values. We are extremely proud to show our achievements so far and our future goals for a sustainable development, to ensure a better world for future generations and a better life for the current ones. This document follows the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI Standard), taking into account some CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) indicators and incorporating some of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set in the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations.
Karizia lives in the present, learns from the past and dreams of the future: what was a dream yesterday, is now reality. What was a problem, has now become a resource for looking positively to the future.
Progress at its best.
Karizia pays great attention to the well-being of its employees, helping them to achieve their professional ambitions without neglecting their private lives by ensuring a comfortable and responsible working environment, fostering a strong team spirit, and implementing a system of company benefits. Each day Karizia offers a coffee to all personnel, because it still believes in small gestures.
Our commitment to gender equality is constant. In recent years, at Karizia the number of female staff has always been around 50% of the total number of staff. There are women also among the members of the Board of Directors. To ensure equal opportunities, recruitment at Karizia does not favour one gender over another, and does not take into account the age of the candidate. Karizia believes in meritocracy.
Karizia gives parenting support to its employees who become parents, and promotes work-life balance in all daily activities.
The fact that men exercise their parental leave right has a positive impact on women, who can consequently also take advantage of it without fear of jeopardising their careers.
99% of the discharged water is discharged in the white water drain system. An internal pH value check is carried out before discharging the water, in addition to an unannounced check carried out by an external company (Etra) on a quarterly basis. This allows us to say that almost all the water that we dispose of is purified. The analysis below confirms this assumption. Karizia will aim at measuring purified vs. non-purified discharged water.
When it comes to energy supply, we prefer renewable energy sources to fossil fuels, also through the installation of photovoltaic panels, which have been in use in our company for several years. Our goal for 2030 is to increase the use of energy from this latter source, which will entail substantial investments for the increase of the production capacity of the photovoltaic system.
The promotion of energy savings, which translates into rational use of energy and consequently the reduction of consumption levels, is the common denominator of all operating units. With this in mind, a series of strategies have been defined that have led and will continuously lead to the implementation of new energy efficiency measures.
All the electricity not obtained from the photovoltaic panels, comes from certified suppliers of clean energy, produced from certified renewable sources.
Karizia offers a stable and continuous employment relationship. At the end of 2020, 88.33% of employees were on a permanent employment contract. Even during a global pandemic that had a major negative impact on the economy, Karizia managed to recruit new workforce. The Turnover Compensation Rate and the Positive Turnover Rate are highly positive, indicating that the company is expanding and growing.
Our team is made up of people who have followed different training paths, in many cases specialising through experience in our sector. Karizia encourages the integration of different age groups, giving voice to young people and promoting the skills of senior individuals. As part of our activities, we always try to stimulate our people, whilst at the same time promoting continuous training by providing different kinds of courses to meet their needs, and therefore those of our company, at all levels.
Proper management of business activities means transparent, ethical and appropriate behaviour in all respects. This means not only compliance with applicable laws and regulations, but also consideration of the expectations and aspirations of the various stakeholders, especially company personnel.
In order to promote a preventive policy, Karizia has produced the Code of Ethics and Conduct. With this document, the General Management of Karizia Spa wishes to highlight the fundamental ethical values to which it aspires, and to which all employees and external contractors (consultants, agents, service providers) must adhere while carrying out the tasks and functions entrusted to them.
We are investing considerable time and funds to further reduce electricity consumption. The modernisation of old technologies has been ongoing for a couple of years. The old chain machines are being replaced by latest generation equipment which, as well as being more efficient in terms of energy consumption, also offers savings during the production stages, further reducing Co2 emissions.
We currently have 50 latest generation machines and 130 older ones. Karizia aims at equalising these numbers by 2030, knowing that high investment costs will pay off in the long run, not just in terms of profits but also in terms of benefits for the environment in which we live.
In addition to this small revolution in the production process, for a couple of years our car park has been fitted with electric car charging stations.
Having started its own path of progressive transition towards an increasingly “carbon neutral” model, Karizia is certain to guarantee both operational efficiency and the containment of polluting emissions, and a positive response to the “call to action” from the international scientific community for the fight against climate change.
In 2012, thermal insulation was installed on the building, in order to limit dispersions as much as possible. This insulation covers over 50% of the surface area, with a reduction in heating, lighting and air conditioning consumption levels, therefore also reducing CO2 emissions.
All the waste listed below was generated by the production process. As it can be seen from the table, 100% of waste was handed over to disposal companies, which recycle the entire contents. Karizia has set itself the objective of being ISO14001 certified by 2021, and is also working on strengthening its internal reporting on the sustainability measures already implemented. The traceability of raw materials, the production process and recyclability are constantly checked against good environmental sustainability practices. Karizia has been voluntarily certifying its traceability system since 2012. The validity of the certificate is subject to regular monitoring of the adopted Traceability System. We therefore ensure transparency in our procurement and production processes. We constantly monitor Italian and European regulations. Karizia adheres to national and international standards, which are the same as those adopted by Federorafi. Given the high level of exports, we also raise local standards when the standards of the countries of destination of our products are higher.
For 2021, Karizia has set for itself the objective to only use recycled silver and material recovered from its own creations. The use of recycled precious metals helps to reduce not only carbon dioxide emissions but also water consumption, limiting the production of waste and saving energy: in other words, the company is doing its bit to tackle climate change.
In 2019 and 2020, Karizia adhered to the “ZERO IMPACT” project of LifeGate, taking part in their third pillar: offsetting CO2 emissions by purchasing carbon credits generated through the planting and protection of growing forests, or from energy efficiency projects.
The period of participation runs from 01/09/2019 to 31/08/2021, with carbon credits for 153,403 kg/Co2.
Considering the carbon credits for the period under review, we can say that in 2020 Kg/Co2 emissions were reduced by 55% compared to 2019.
Our facilities meet the highest environmental sustainability standards in Europe. We believe in recycling and in the value of investing in the world of the future: the world of our children and grandchildren.
Karizia, for its part, has always stood out for its innovation and sustainability in its daily care for the ecosystem.
Our organisation invariably demands fair, honest and ethical conduct in all day-to-day activities, and Karizia is particularly against all forms of discrimination. Part of our Code of Ethics takes cues from the anti-corruption standard: ISO 37001 OF 2016. Maintaining these rigorous standards is crucial to our success. Management is always vigilant, to ensure that the contents of the Code are respected.
During 2020, Karizia did not record any cases of discrimination or violence among its personnel and collaborators.
