Environmental responsibility

Sustainable Cities and Communities

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

• By way of ALUPROF activities we have been supporting companies in green buildings certification, which has been setting the route for the whole construction sector development for many years. ALUPROF aims at increasing the share of aluminium systems in energy-saving, passive projects by 20% by 2025. International environmental certificates, such as BREEAM, LEED, DGNB, HQE, or WELL, confirm the growing awareness of climate crisis and the influence brought by the construction sector. Investors and developers more and more frequently select ecological materials and solutions, which considerably improves the quality of investment projects and the life-cycle of the designed buildings. Progress in that area is promising, and each project with Aluprof systems to receive a green building certificate is a pride for us and an incentive to strive for further excellence of the processes and products at the organisation.

Responsible Consumption and Production

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

• • The objective of the companies of the Grupa Kęty S.A. Capital Group is to minimise the consumption of primary raw materials per ton of product sold, and increase the share of recycled materials in products. In each of the segments emphasis has been placed on the effective use of raw materials. Actions have been taken to cooperate with those suppliers who are guided by the sustainable development idea. As regards our products, we apply a product-life-cycle approach, focusing on the search for new ecological applications. In that area, we conduct our own research and collaborate with scientific centres.

  With regard to the nature of production, we apply water reuse in large quantities (this refers to the EPS and the FPS companies). For that purpose closed circuits have been applied to recycle water from production processes and limit the use of environment in that regard. The effect is achieved by cooling and recirculation of water in heating processes. Closed-circuit systems allow for substantial savings in terms of water consumption. Only for the purpose of maintaining the quality of products, some of the water is discharged periodically and supplemented with fresh water. In order to increase the total volume of recycled water, the EPS introduced a common drainage system at the roofs of the selected production halls, which is connected to circulation water return sump. During rainfall water from the roof supplements the evaporated water and refreshes water in the closed circuit. Additionally, the system of water supplementation and discharge has been automated. We also run internal educational campaigns.

Climate Action

• The project of 70 thousand trees for 70 years of Grupa Kęty. In 2023 Grupa Kęty is going to celebrate its 70th anniversary (1953-2023). On that occasion, already in 2021, the Group has launched the process of planting 70 thousand trees. Together with our local partners, we have planted 30,000 seedlings of beech, larch, fir, and spruce trees. The project will continue in the years 2022 and 2023. See video
• ‘Green Group’ – employee suggestions programme. By way of the ‘Green Group’ programme we have invited our employees to share activities for the ESG Strategy performance, particularly focused on preventing climate change. In the first year of the programme, the total of 18 suggestions were reported, out of which 12 were implemented. The annual prize – air purifier – was handed in for the suggestion with the highest impact on CO₂ emission reduction.
• ‘Let’s Clean the Beskids!’ – an annual project to clean the mountain tracks. Within the project, in 2021 there were held three common cleaning actions, close to the mountains of Klimczok (Beskid Śląski – on 15 March), Babia Góra (Beskid Żywiecki – on 12 June), and Hrobacza Łąka (Beskid Mały – on 26 June). Jointly, 485 people, including 250 children and youths, managed to clean the mountain tracks of 3,650 litres of waste within the ‘Let’s Clean the Beskids with the Polish Tatra Society 2021’ project.
• ‘Letters to the Earth’ – ecological education programme directed to the children of the employees of the Capital Group. The children prepared letters, in which they educated the adults how to become more ecological in a simple way. Within the whole Group we received 216 letters, and all the participants were honoured.
• The scope and method of reporting the climate strategy of Grupa KĘTY has been esteemed by the Climate Strategies Benchmark, i.e. a broad study on corporate climate strategies. The indicators with the Benchmark had been developed by the ESG experts and practitioners of the GO Responsible together with the UNEP/GRID Warsaw Centre. The analysis covered 2020 reports of the WIG20 and mWIG40 companies. In that study Grupa Kęty was awarded 15 points and found itself among the top 5 companies which best report the climate issues. There were analysed data reported in 14 areas, such as risk management, emissions reporting, climate policy, climate objectives, partnership for climate, emission indicators, global SDG policies, inclusion of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, climate governance, sustainable development team, TCFD guidelines, and strategic management.

Partnerships for the Goals

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

• In order to strengthen our activities, at the end of 2020 Grupa Kęty S.A. joined the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI). In 2022 we plan to undergo certification for compliance with the ‘ASI Performance Standard’. The standard defines 59 requirements within three sustainable development pillars – governance, environment and social issues. The standard imposes high requirements not only on production practices but also on the procurement of raw materials and product management.
• Starting from 2020, Grupa KĘTY S.A. has been a member of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and reported climate on CDP portal. Carbon Disclosure Project is an international non-profit organisation, which has been researching the level of climate awareness among companies. It has been providing reliable and verified information about the impact brought by the particular companies. CDP makes the assessment based on replies to the questions within as much as 11 groups of criteria. The information received enables identification of the challenges and initiatives which are now more and more often required by the investors and customers. At the moment, over 500 investors around the world have been availing of the data.