The Bracco group presented its new Sustainability Report, a document that reports all the actions implemented by the company
“Businesses need not fear the impact of the environmental and energy transition. They must be able to transform it into opportunities for technological innovation and growth. We do this by adhering with conviction to the UN Global Compact, the special corporate sustainability project launched in 2000 by the then Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan”. Thus Diana Bracco, president and CEO of the Bracco Group in the opening letter to stakeholders the Sustainability Report of the company today a global leader in diagnostic imaging, with 1.7 billion euros in turnover and 3,700 employees worldwide.
The group’s commitment, explains Bracco, is also manifested in “reporting and measuring our concrete work for sustainability for years”. Especially “with theparticipation of all Bracco Group companies in the Responsible Care program and the SusChem Italy technological platform, initiatives promoted by Federchimica to strengthen the competitiveness of the European chemical industry, defining innovation and development priorities from a sustainability perspective”. And, finally, “by adopting, by voluntary choice, at all Italian production sites (but also in the factories of Montreal in Canada, of Bipso in Singen in Germany, of Bracco Suisse in Geneva and of Bracco Sine in Shanghai) integrated environmental and safety management systems, certified according to the international standards ISO 14001 and ISO 45001”.
These are “important actions obtained with the contribution of all our people, as also demonstrated by the beautiful initiative of the HSE Awards, the program that rewards the best sustainability ideas regarding the environment, health and safety promoted from below, and which has now exceeded the threshold of one hundred projects. All inspired by the mission of our Group: improving people’s lives with research and prevention in a holistic vision, which profoundly links human health and that of the planet”.
The reduction of environmental impacts and that of all polluting emissions into water and the atmosphere and safety have always been priority objectives for Braccoas well as pursuing the circular economy model, which sees waste as an important resource for recovering materials and energy, thus reducing the use of primary materials and preserving resources. The multi-year sustainability plan is an important strategic tool for Bracco that establishes medium and long-term objectives and annual targets to be monitored and updated every six months based on three interconnected and integrated impact areas, or pillars: People, Innovation and Planet.
For People-Objective 2030 it is 45% of women in executive positions; for Innovation-Objective 2030 it is the involvement of 65,000 people (radiologists, students, etc.), of which up to 40% under 35 years of age, in targeted training projects by 2027; for Planet-Objective 2030 it is the absolute reduction of at least 51% of Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030. Carbon neutrality in the Group’s activities by 2023.
Bracco has introduced circularity in the production of active ingredients through careful recovery of raw materials; waste recycling; the increase in the recovered fraction; the reduction of waste production and the reuse of packaging. There are also numerous Bracco projects aimed at optimizing the use of energy, reducing the carbon footprint and using natural resources efficiently. The Group then identified innovative materials, with low environmental impact or biodegradable, for primary and secondary packaging.
“Today – he underlines Fulvio Renoldi Bracco, vice president and CEO of Bracco Imaging– everything is rethought with a view to sustainable development, to which we dedicate ourselves with the utmost commitment in every area, keeping in mind three main objectives: circularity, i.e. the recovery and reuse of raw materials and energy sources; the reduction of waste and efficiency in the management of natural resources, in particular energy carriers and water; the containment of transformation costs of the entire supply chain. When it comes to energy, an increasingly crucial issue for businesses, Bracco participates, for example, in the Renewability consortium, which is one of the many paths we are taking on the path to decarbonisation. Furthermore, our production units, both in Italy and abroad, are all committed to increasing the purchase of energy from renewable sources and are investing in efficiency.”
“The entire Bracco site in Ceriano Laghetto has long been supplied with electricity and steam from a very high-performance cogeneration plant – adds Fulvio Renoldi Bracco -. Speaking of innovation, then, I want to underline that Bracco invests and innovates in all fields. From traditional radiology to precision medicine with molecular imaging and theragnostics”.
A broad product portfolio, developed through research and development activity over the years, makes the Bracco Group an important player in three main sectors: Contrast agents: X-ray radiology, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound and nuclear medicine; Healthcare services: the innovation of products and services especially in the field of precision medicine; Medical technologies: products used in the hemodynamic laboratory for cardio-vascular and peripheral vascular diagnostics (ACIST Medical) and in the radiology department, where contrast agent injectors for CT and MRI are supplied (Bracco Engineering).
Overall, the Group has 2600 patents and approximately 450 patent applications pending and in 2022 it filed 40 new priority and international patent applications collaborating with local and international universities, hospitals and research institutions. “For us, innovation concerns not only the products, but also the impact on the environment and on people – underlines Fulvio Renoldi Bracco -. Beyond everything we do, which is fundamental to giving the company a future and to the planet, what makes me really enthusiastic are the projects that concern people. I think of the welfare plan, the inclusion policies and the innovative listening path that we have launched. For example, the dialogue started by Chat between mentors and mentees”.
Source-www.adnkronos.com