19. October 2017.
Hemofarm presented its annual Sustainability Report for 2016 on October 19th in an event organized for partners and representatives of the media on a ship. Cruise on Belgrade rivers was an opportunity to speak about this important topic while enjoying a view of water, which is the source of life and one of the most important resources on the planet.
For the third year in a row, Hemofarm company was awarded the highest level (A+ equivalent) for applying sustainable development in business operations, thereby maintaining the level of success, while at the same time being one of the sustainable development leaders in the region.
‘As indicated at the beginning of our new report, sustainable development is the story about how to be better in everything we do, show more respect to people and community in which we work and live, save resources and preserve the environment. Experts say that in a decade or two, the companies which do not operate in compliance with the principles of sustainable development will cease existing in the global market. We in Hemofarm took on the role of being the initiator of change and promoter of sustainable development in the Southeast Europe region’, Ronal Seeliger, CEO of this company, said to the partners and the press.
In his words, the philosophy of each company should not be just about producing and earning more, but it should care about environmental protection and all resources available to it. ’Upstream from here on the Sava river, there is our plant in Šabac, and I can proudly say that there are no wastewaters in the river coming from our plants, as we have top-notch wastewater treatment plants’ CEO of Hemofarm pointed out. He stated that investing in environmental protection is not an expense, since it is more expensive to finance solving of environmental problems.
The latest report is titled ’When Words Become Actions’ and that is exactly what Hemofarm has been striving for – to make a transition from reporting about sustainable development to managing it. In practice, it means that plants of this company are among 20 percent of the most energy-efficient global companies in their category. Also, Hemofarm has set a new record of 5 billion tablets, and yet managed to reduce the consumption of electricity and natural gas per finished product pack.
Sanda Savić, Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications in Hemofarm, pointed out on this occasion that sustainable development is not just about the care for the environment, but also for the employees and wider community. According to her words, more than a half of Hemofarm employees are women, whereas share of women in management is as much as 60 percent.
’It is important to point out that for us, safety at work comes first. In 2016, we increased the number of employees by 5 percent, while still continuing decreasing the trend in the number of injuries at work. Whenever possible, we pack our products in recycled cardboard packs, and precisely owing to this recycled packaging from Hemofarm, some STADA Group members, for example in France, got incentives from their governments’.
In 2016 alone, Hemofarm earmarked around RSD 50 million for supporting healthcare system, education, culture and sports through activities of its Foundation. Hemofarm is also a responsible member of the social community. The Most Important Call in Life campaign, aimed at raising awareness in the society about the significance of organ donation, was how this company and its foundation fought for the direct sustainability – the sustainability of life.
It was also stated at the promotion of the annual report that Hemofarm was in the final phase of application process to join the largest global civic initiative within the United Nations, the Global Compact, thereby undertaking to harmonize its activities with the ten universal principles from the area of human rights, labour, environmental protection and anti-corruption.
Meanwhile, there are currently only 12 companies in Serbia which prepare annual sustainability reports and send them to the global database.v
