Padua, May 4, 2022 The Board of Directors’ approval of “Made to Matter – Our commitment to making the difference”, SIT’s Sustainability Plan to 2025, formalizes a series of best practices that the listed multinational, leader in the creation of intelligent solutions to control environmental conditions and measure consumption in the areas of Heating and Metering, has been working on and developing since its foundation. Ethical and responsible business conduct, focus on the environment and social responsibility have always been cornerstones of SIT’s ability to generate constant, lasting, and sustainable economic growth over the decades.
The Plan, which will be presented today by SIT management via an online stream at 12PM (at meet.google.com/xyj-yuiy-vtx), is backed by economic resources (Capex/Opex) of over Euro 8 million, which are already included in the operating and financial forecasts. SIT foresees an 8% reduction in CO2 emissions and the installation of new photovoltaic systems that will increase the company’s share of renewable energy by 12% (+18% in the Italian perimeter).
“SIT wants to lead the energy transition by acting as a sustainable partner in creating solutions to improve energy efficiency and protect natural resources,” states Chiara de’ Stefani, SIT’s Corporate Sustainability Director. “It is no coincidence that we have named this plan ‘Made to Matter,’ as it constitutes a concrete commitment to undertaking projects that matter and which make a real difference both in our industry and to the economic and social environment overall. The plan states how SIT will continue to generate long-term sustainable value across every aspect that links our company and our stakeholders.”
SIT operates in key global sectors enabling energy transition technologies, developing essential components for domestic heating and consumption measurement appliances. It has always played a key role in the pursuit of sustainable development, driving innovation and ongoing environmental improvements.
The achievement of the Company’s strategic business objectives is also based on sustainability targets and over the years SIT has therefore followed an integrated path of “Innovability”: innovation and sustainability aligned with business performance.
As part of this journey, in which the stock market listing created new opportunities and responsibilities in pursuit of sustainable economic success, the Board of Directors established a Sustainability Governance system in 2021, appointing a Corporate Sustainability Director and a structure dedicated to defining, introducing and executing each of its ESG initiatives and projects.
Made to Matter: the Plan – Reflecting SIT’s articulated business model, the Plan imagines the Company’s near future and sets out its strategy and direction, with the goal of accelerating sustainable change. The plan is divided into three macro areas:
- Made by Us reflects the creation of long-term sustainable value for all stakeholders through international business development, access to ESG-aligned funding, and strengthening of the Group’s safeguards for ethical and responsible business conduct in line with SIT’s values;
- Made for Future defines environmental responsibility with the commitment to develop products that enable reductions in energy consumption and emissions, thanks to H2-ready solutions and other product technologies. These commitments also translate into the improvement of internal development, production and organization processes;
- Made with Care reflects the Company’s social responsibility, how SIT interprets its commitment to the development and growth of the communities in which it is involved, its employees and local stakeholders.
Digitalization, Technological Innovation, and Lean Culture support transformation and enable organizational and SIT product development processes, thereby constituting cross-cutting and enabling elements of the plan.
The action defined in the plan seeks to contribute to the achievement of 11 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda. More than 50 initiatives and projects are envisaged, involving every area of the Company and providing for significant economic investments over the plan period.
SIT’s key sustainability goals to 2025[1] (full details can be found in the presentation available for download at www.sitcorporate.it /Sustainability):
MADE BY US
- International business development, focused on further expansion in theUSA (Heating), entry into thenew UK and Indian markets (Smart Gas Metering) and international development of the Water Metering business
- Maintaining 100% “ESG-linked” funding.
- Achievement of EcoVadis Gold sustainability rating
- Joining the United Nations Global Compact
- Reinforcement of the Group’s controls governing business conduct through policies and procedures on human rights, environment, anti-corruption and competition.
MADE FOR FUTURE
- Strengthening leadership and expansion of the 100% hydrogen solutions product range, including with “Dual Fuel” solutions in the gas metering field.
- Participation in further international experiments into residential use of hydrogen (in Holland and Germany following the UK experience).
- Completion of the product and organizational carbon footprint project, which will conclude the mapping of Scope 3 emissions, and defining further targets for the reduction of CO2
- Installation of two new photovoltaic systems to cover 18% of the Rovigo facility’s energy needs (the Group’s most energy-intensive), increasing the share of renewables by 12%.
- Use of recycled plastics in gas meter production for at least 80% of the casing.
- Introduction of eco-design methodolgy and procedures for all new products.
- Achievement of EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) certification.
- Involvement of suppliers and streamlining of logistics flows. ESG assessment of strategic suppliers and gradual involvement of these suppliers in sustainability initiatives (75% coverage by 2025).
MADE WITH CARE
- Gender pay equality: Benchmark analysis on total compensation (100% of white-collar workers in Italy) to eliminate the potential gender pay gap.
- ‘Great Place To Work’, with a focus on the Diversity & Inclusion Index to promote social inclusion within the Company.
- Short- and medium-term employee incentive schemes (MBO and LTI) containing sustainability-related targets to align corporate objectives with individual well-being.
- SIT Digital Training Hub: Digital training courses centered around employee training needs assessment.
- SIT Foundation – corporate foundation to promote social initiatives to encourage inclusion and talent development.
Digital Transformation, Innovation and Lean Culture – SIT develops its potential through digital innovation, to offer its customers digital and sustainable services
- Promoting “Digital and Green” culture” among stakeholders.
- Use of 0/IoT at production facilities to monitor/increase efficiency and reduce waste (e.g., downtime, failures).
- Augmented reality to interact remotely with customers and suppliers, reduce travel and distances and improve service levels.
- Creation of the new headquarters in Padua which will include R&D laboratories for the testing of hydrogen for residential use and open to customers and stakeholders.
- Completion of the new headquarters designed with innovative criteria, green, intelligent and lean.
- Cyber Security: incident response policy to combat cyber attacks, including increased penetration testing and vulnerability assessments and training for 100% of the corporate population with a digital identity.
[1] Where not specified, these are goals and projects scheduled to be achieved within the timeframe of the plan.