Italy’s Lucart Publishes 2020 Sustainability Report

Lucart's 16th Sustainability Report, drawn up in compliance with the principles of the international Global Reporting Initiative (GRI Standard), informs that a turnover of more than € 515 million was achieved, confirming the results of 2019. The objective was reached despite the pandemic that had a major impact on the professional and Ho.Re.Ca. markets and required exceptional prevention and safety investments totalling over €1.9 million throughout the group.

Lucart has renewed the commitment to lead the green transition in the paper industry in 2020 with new guidelines that will promote 100 percent recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025 and 100 percent recycled or compostable packaging by 2030. The sustainability strategy of the group is fully integrated into the action framework outlined by the Sustainable Development Goals. Lucart officially joined the United Nations Global Compact Network Italy in 2020 to reassert this commitment.

Furthermore, despite the uncertainties generated by Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, the financial strength of the group was marked by further international expansion through the acquisition of ESP Ltd, the leading independent professional hygiene product transformer in the UK.

Year after year, the Report devotes ample space to the company's achievements in reducing its environmental impact:

reduction of CO2 and NOx emissions by 12.1 percent and 44.6 percent, respectively (vs. 2014)
reduction of waste per tonne of paper made (-7.4 percent vs. 2019)
improved use of water and energy resources with specific water consumption down by 18.1 percent (vs. 2013) and specific energy consumption reduced by 11.8 percent (vs. 2014)

The company will also start up a new cogeneration plant in 2021 for producing energy and heat at its Porcari plant, with gas turbines already set up to run on the most modern fuels, including hydrogen and biomethane. The investment will further reduce the specific energy consumption and the specific CO2 and NOX emissions.

“Our commitments to sustainability have not changed during this very difficult year because they have always been at the heart of Lucart's promise to society and the future”, commented Massimo Pasquini, CEO of Lucart. “We strongly feel the urgency to respect the goals identified by the United Nations for 2030 and this is why we officially joined the Global Compact Network Italy, committing ourselves to key principles, such as respecting human rights, eliminating forced and child labour, eliminating all forms of discrimination, fighting corruption and actively protecting the environment. The excellent environmental results achieved in 2020 were matched by the equally promising financial results and, despite the extremely difficult and uncertain situation, we continued to pursue our internationalisation objective with the acquisition, completed in the first quarter of 2021, of ESP Ltd., the leading independent manufacturer in the Away from Home market in the UK”.

The results of the Lucart 16th Sustainability Report were presented on Wednesday 23 June 2021 during a round table discussion moderated by Tessa Gelisio, in the presence of Massimo Pasquini, Lucart CEO, Simona Bonafè MEP and member of the Environment Committee, Fabio Iraldo professor of management at the Scuola Sant'Anna in Pisa, Francesco Pasquini chief sales & marketing Officer of Lucart, Francesco Faella managing director Tetra Pak South Europe and Giancarla Pancione marketing and fundraising director Save the Children Italia.

Professor Fabio Iraldo, co-writer with Michela Melis of the book “Green marketing. How to avoid greenwashing by communicating the value of sustainability to the market”, showed how to establish a transparent relationship between companies and their target audiences: “Contrary to what many observers feared, the pandemic emergency has not accentuated anthropocentric selfishness but instead fostered the tendency - already very evident in consumers in past years - to value the relationship between humankind and nature and to appreciate companies that place it at the centre of their strategies. Demonstrating this commitment seriously and transparently using reporting and certification tools, as Lucart has been doing for years, is the best way to prevent the risks of greenwashing”.

The discussion pivoted on the need to address the obstacles to the construction of new plants that may come from local communities: “In the week during which the European Parliament will be voting on the final text of the world's first law on climate change that clearly establishes the commitment to achieve zero net emissions by 2050, Lucart's report highlights how industrial competitiveness can be combined with a business model focused on sustainability”, said Simona Bonafè, member of the European Parliament. “To reach these objects we have ambitions objects like Next Generation UE”, she added. “Infrastructures and facilities for the transition to a circular economy are a key pillar of the Italian Recovery and Resilience Facility that includes plans for acting together with local communities to explain the benefits and go beyond the NIMBY syndrome we have seen all too often in our country”.

The second part of the event focused on strategic partnerships. Natural is the ambitious circular economy project launched in 2010 by the Lucart R&D department for developing the use of alternative fibres to virgin pulp, to recover all the materials contained in Tetra Pak beverage cartons. The Natural Project contributed to achieving the following objectives during 2013-2020:

Recovering more than 6.5 billion beverage cartons, a quantity capable of covering going around the circumference of the Earth 37 times
Avoiding the use of more than 2.8 million trees, the equivalent of 9,600 football pitches
Avoiding the emission of more than 170,000 tonnes of CO2, equivalent to that which would be generated by more than 1,300,000 car journeys from Rome to Milan

Francesco Pasquini, chief sales and marketing officer of Lucart, said: “At Lucart we believe that the collaboration between for-profit and not-for-profit organisations that share common values and interests is fundamental to defining tomorrow's world together. We are strongly committed to applying circular business models and for this reason, we favour long-term partnerships with organisations, companies and institutions that share our commitment to the environment, like with Tetra Pak and the other partners in the circular supply chain for the implementation and continual development of the Natural Project”.

Francesco Faella, managing director Tetra Pak South Europe, said: “For Tetra Pak, sustainability cannot be separated from sharing ambitions and best practices with its various stakeholders. The responsibility of Tetra Pak towards the environment and future generations is to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions in our operations in 2030 and along the value chain by 2050. In this framework, Lucart's commitment is fundamental to ensure that our packaging can complete its life cycle creating new products in the scope of a circular economy project”.

Continuous synergy with suppliers, customers and associations has allowed Lucart to develop innovative and sustainable business solutions and also contribute to the creation of a fair and inclusive society. For this reason, in such a complicated year, characterised by a socio-economic scenario that risks severely penalising the most vulnerable members of society, Lucart has chosen to team up once again with Save the Children, the international organisation that has been working for over 100 years to help children at risk and secure their future. Since January 2020, through the Tenderly brand, Lucart has supported Spazio Mamme, spaces created to promote the inclusion of children aged from 0 to 6 from disadvantaged backgrounds equipping them with the right tools for each phase of their growth.

Giancarla Pancione, marketing and fundraising director of Save the Children Italy: “We became aware of the immediate consequences of the emergency from the very beginning of the pandemic, through our field projects throughout Italy to support children in the most disadvantaged social and family backgrounds. The absolute poverty of families reached its highest level since 2005 last year and educational poverty risks leaving the most vulnerable children behind, depriving them of the best opportunities to grow and build their future. We are delighted that, in addition to supporting the Spazio Mamme, Lucart is now at our side in the Riscriviamo il Futuro (Let’s Rewrite the Future) campaign to fight educational poverty and early school leaving and to give opportunities, hope and a future to the children and youngsters in our country”.

The commitment of Lucart was sealed by an important accolade received from MOIGE (Movimento Italiano Genitori - the Italian Parents Association). The #Tenderlyacademy - Chimica della tenerezza campaign was awarded on 21 June for its objective to “blend originality and depth in a campaign for rediscovering important values, such as kindness, tenderness, sharing and inclusiveness, suggesting emotional re-education and the protection of children and their needs through commercial communications”.

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