2022 Sustainability Report: Thoughtful Listening & Innovative Collaboration

Sustainability is not a one-time goal, but a lifelong commitment forged by learning, growing and taking action. Every year, Aquafil publishes a Sustainability Report to offer transparency into our progress as an organization, and to ask for accountability as we continue striving toward the demanding sustainability goals we’ve set.

In 2022, Aquafil’s focus has been the collective efforts necessary to make a serious impact in sustainable business practices. We understand that environmental, social and governance initiatives go hand-in-hand, and that we cannot achieve all our goals without the support of innovative, like-minded organizations.

Stepping Out of Our Comfort Zone to Make an Impact

While Aquafil always looks toward our Brand Manifesto as a guide, we specifically leaned into one aspect this year: “We are thoughtful listeners. We step out of our comfort zone to set new standards through empathy and collaboration, inside and outside.”

With a focus on collaboration and empathy, Aquafil focused our sustainability efforts on exploring the future of sustainable textiles by working with our clients and partners, making the workplace a safer and more engaging space by listening to our employees and setting higher standards by achieving voluntary certifications.

As thoughtful listeners and collaborators, Aquafil was able to make an impact on our environmental, social and governance initiatives in 2022.

Environmental Initiatives

Last year, we continued to make further progress on many of our environmental targets. Aquafil was able to reduce our Scope 1 + Scope 2 emissions by another 16% over the previous year and achieved 91% of waste recovered through recycling and energy recovery. We also exceeded our goal of reducing water consumption by 30%, three years before our target date.

Another one of our environmental initiatives is to explore the future of sustainable textiles. This year, we started testing the use of ECONYL® filaments for 3D printing, a market where demand for recycled materials is booming.

Social Initiatives

Here at Aquafil, we recognize the value of our people’s ideas, experiences and feelings. In the past year, we have conducted our first corporate survey to assess the general sentiment, collect insights and take in suggestions on several areas. On top of this, we are very proud to announce the approval of a global parental leave policy, the increase of environmental training hours by more than double what we had in 2021 and the giving out of a total of 500 hours of paid volunteering time.

Governance Initiatives

Aquafil’s sustainability strategy is overseen and implemented by governance bodies that ensure all our employees, collaborators and business partners formally abide by the high standards set in our Code of Conduct. We have also set high standards for environmental, social and quality measures, which we strive to prove by obtaining voluntary certifications. In 2022, we obtained two more ISO 50001 certifications, one more ISO 45001 and one more SA8000. Last year, we also adhered to the UN Global Compact, a voluntary initiative for businesses across the world to join forces to encourage the adoption of sustainable and socially responsible practices.

Become Part of the Solution

If there is one lesson that we can take from this turbulent year, it is that current challenges should not slow down our sustainability efforts. If anything, they should urge us to act faster. It is time for companies to take accountability and become part of the solution. Planting trees and buying carbon credits is surely not enough to address the magnitude of the emergency. We must radically rethink the way we do business and embed sustainability into our business models.

This is why Aquafil is focused on not only improving our own sustainability efforts, but also working with our vendors, suppliers, partners and clients to seek out innovative, sustainable business practices. We must all work together and push each other to radically rethink the way we work and design in order to achieve a circular economy.

I encourage you to download our 2022 Sustainability Report to learn more about Aquafil’s efforts to address the challenges facing the environment and society through our 360-degree commitment to sustainability.

Author: Giulio Bonazzi, CEO, Aquafil Group