Through the Sustainability Department, Araven Group continues to advance in its objective of extending compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda to all the company’s activities, in its three dimensions: environmental, social and governance.

Its adherence to the United Nations Global Compact, which recognises companies aligned with ten universal principles on human rights and the environment, ratifies the company’s commitment to society and the planet.

Supply, eco-design, circularity and integration are the four basic pillars of a roadmap to promote Corporate Social Responsibility as one of its hallmarks.

This year, the company has continued to increase its collaboration with NGOs and associations aligned with its priority SDGs, such as responsible production and consumption and climate action.

Twelve social and nine environmental actions were carried out in 2023, in addition to nine internal communication actions to “integrate sustainable DNA at all levels of the group”.

 

Araven Group, a leader in shopping equipment, visual merchandising and products for the Horeca sector, has continued to promote its strategic commitment to meet the objectives of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in its business activities during 2023, a commitment reinforced this autumn with its adherence to the United Nations Global Compact. Its corporate carbon footprint, carried out in all its scopes and relative to its volume of activity and sales, has been reduced by 5% as one of the main results of the 2021-2025 Sustainability Plan, which includes actions to extend sustainability to all the company’s daily work. This year has been completed with more than twenty actions in collaboration with social and environmental organisations.

Concern for sustainability has been one of Araven’s historical hallmarks, with milestones such as the launch of the Oceanis line of shopping baskets and trolleys, made from recycled plastic from fishing nets that pollute the seas. With the launch of the Sustainability Department in 2021, a major boost was given to the objective of “integrating sustainable DNA at all levels of the group”, based on four pillars: sourcing, eco-design, circularity and integration.

The Sustainability Department stresses that supply includes not only the purchase and use of raw materials, such as recycled and recovered materials, which reduce environmental impact, but also the application of this criterion in all phases of the value chain, including the services we contract, such as the use of energy from renewable sources.

Eco-design seeks to integrate the principles of the circular economy from the very conception of products throughout their life cycle; circularity seeks alliances with suppliers and customers, as well as reintroducing their waste as internal resources and reducing their corporate impacts. And finally, integration refers to the coordination of the three sustainable dimensions, environmental, social and governance, such as management systems or collaborations with social organisations, focusing on employee awareness in order to act as a collective and achieve their common goal.

IN SUPPORT OF THE UN GLOBAL COMPACT

The year 2023 has also concluded with the entry, on 16 October, as a member of the United Nations Global Compact initiative in Spain. The confirmation of Araven Group’s membership recognises its compliance with the criteria of ethical management and its contribution to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Global Compact initiative is a UN project to promote corporate sustainability, creating a movement of organisations that promote doing business in a more responsible way and committed to society and the planet.

Participation implies a commitment from the company’s management to contribute to the 10 Principles of the Global Compact (linked to Human Rights, labour standards, environment and anti-corruption) and the 2030 Agenda. As a participant, Araven Group is obliged to continue implementing sustainability criteria; to disseminate its progress to customers, suppliers, employees… through an annual progress report; and to make an annual financial contribution to its turnover.

SUSTAINABILITY THROUGHOUT THE VALUE CHAIN

Outstanding examples of this effort are the extension of the use of recycled or recovered plastic in the in-store transport line, where all products now use between 25% and 100% of this material, or examples in the catering line such as the new 3R waste bins and floor cleaners, which are manufactured with the waste from production, and mean converting waste into a resource and reducing to zero all emissions from the extraction of virgin material, production and transport. The new reusable egg trays also have a significant impact for customers, reducing waste as opposed to single-use trays and reducing food waste by preserving eggs better and better protected.

In the merchandising range, Araven’s next objective is to establish a Green Purchasing Policy that guarantees a commitment to sustainable alternatives in the purchase of the various semi-finished products with which this area works.

Energy saving measures have also been implemented, such as the use of low-consumption lighting and renewable energy consumption for the development of its activity in one of its headquarters, with the aim of incorporating them in all of them over the next few years.

To quantify all these implications, Araven Group uses the calculation of the corporate carbon footprint, also including Scope 3, which considers the carbon dioxide emissions generated by the company throughout the value chain. This indicator has shown a 5% improvement between 2021 and 2022; and the increase will be greater when the actions implemented this year are reflected in 2024.

Another of the actions is to commit to certifications that objectively support performance in sustainability, such as ISO 14001 Environmental Management, achieved for OM Group in 2023, as well as renowned assessments such as Ecovadis where the company has achieved scores that recognise its good work. In addition, Araven Group is now preparing, on a voluntary basis, its first sustainability report for the year 2023, which will complement the information contained in the financial report.

SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIONS

Another important aspect of this work is the corporate responsibility actions, preferably in collaboration with local entities and for purposes linked to the Sustainable Development Goals that Araven Group considers a priority in the company’s global work: gender equality (SDG 5), decent work and economic growth (8), innovation in industry (9), responsible production and consumption (12) and climate action (13).

In this way, twelve social and nine environmental actions have been carried out throughout 2023, including financial or material donations, volunteering activities or communication campaigns.

Among the social actions, the commitment to functional diversity through volunteer activities with employees and the associations ASPADIR, in Madrid, and ATADES, in Zaragoza, stands out. And, on Women’s Day, with the 8M Challenge, to promote the incorporation of women with disabilities into the workplace. The company was also once again a donor in the project of the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), an international association to improve access to vaccines for children in developing countries.

 

 

Other collaborations have included collaborations in collection campaigns with Food Bank networks, donation of material to REMAR, solidarity gifts with the Spanish Association Against Cancer, renovation of the decoration of the family room of the Ronald McDonald Foundation in Madrid, and with the Red Cross, through a blood donation campaign and its Golden Draw, among others.

Among the group of actions aimed at protecting the environment, part of the profits from the sale of baskets and trolleys from the Oceanis line were donated to the NGO Plastic Change, dedicated to raising awareness and disseminating information about the impact of marine litter. We also collaborated through volunteer days and financially with two other projects related to the protection of aquatic ecosystems on the banks of the Jarama river, with SEO BirdLife, and in the Gallocanta lagoon, with AISECO.

Other collaborations have been with the Regenerative Agriculture Association, which offered a webinar to all interested staff on the operation and importance of these alternative farming and grazing practices, and on the other, the PURE project for solar cookers in Uganda with Ayuda en Acción.

Finally, Araven Group underlines as fundamental within its commitment to sustainability and social responsibility, the internal communication actions for its employees. In 2023, nine informative disseminations have been carried out, coinciding with the celebration of International Days such as Energy Efficiency, Recycling or the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, among others. In this way, the aim is for all employees to take the corporate sustainability project personally, as it is essential to continue advancing along this path.

ARAVEN GROUP, PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS

Araven Group is made up of the Aragonese firm Araven and the Madrid-based Grupo OM Comunicación Visual, two companies owned by GED Capital, which agreed to integrate in 2020 to respond to current market demands and reinforce their leadership in equipment for the Retail – shopping baskets and trolleys and visual merchandising – and Horeca sectors.

Following a major reorganisation of its brands, the Shop&Roll brand – with the claim “The Retail Beat” – unifies the name and image of all its retail lines to revolutionise the market with a global, expert and specialist service in shopping transport and visual merchandising.

For its part, the Araven brand exclusively identifies products for professional catering: tools for different conservation, handling, service, display and cleaning needs, providing efficiency and safety in the kitchen to guarantee maximum food quality. This is summed up in the slogan “Food Safety Innovation”.