Barilla increases sustainability efforts

(ANSA) - Milan, May 26 - The Barilla group on Thursday presented its 2016 Sustainability Report, titled "Good for You, Good for the Planet".
    Sustainability is an increasingly important industrial value for Barilla. The group, based in the region of Emilia-Romagna, is the world's biggest purchaser of durum wheat and has 29 production plants with revenue of 3.3 million euros.
    In the past five years, the company has reformulated 219 products to include less fat, salt and sugar; more fibre; and constant growth in offering whole-wheat products.
    In 2015 Barilla bought 140,000 tons of sustainable durum wheat from 1,300 companies, representing a 50% increase on 2014 figures and tripling the margin of strategic raw materials purchased from responsible supply chains from 6% to 18%.
    Company President Guido Barilla said the objective is to make that figure 100% by 2020. The group's "Wheat Train" project has contributed to reducing water consumption by 19% and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 23% for each ton of product produced.
    In addition to the attention placed on the environment, there is also concern for people: three out of four employees have joined the company's "Smart Working" programme, which offers flexibility and improved work-life balance.
    The company is also paying attention to the topic of diversity: the goal is to have gender equality in leadership positions by 2020.
    "The topics of personal well-being, food safety, nutrition, environmental sustainability and the social role in the communities in which we operate offer us extraordinary opportunities to plan an industrial model that is continually headed towards the future," Guido Barilla said.
    In particular, Barilla bought 1.5 million metric tons of wheat in 2015, mainly in countries where it has production plants.
    In Italy the group buys about 12% of the country's entire national grain production: 475,000 metric tons, which represent about 70% of the supply required in its plants.
    Of this, 85% comes from farming contracts in Emilia-Romagna, Marche, and Puglia.