DINANT MAKES GREAT PROGRESS IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Noticias
-
miércoles 31 enero 2024
DINANT MAKES GREAT PROGRESS IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Honduran Agribusiness Publishes Detailed 2nd GRI Report
All Dinant facilities have ISO 45001 certification for their safe working conditions.
TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS, JANUARY 31, 2024: Dinant today launched its 2nd Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) report outlining the significant progress the company continues to make in enhancing the environment, developing its employees, and having a positive impact on local communities.
Covering the period 2021-22, and available in English and Spanish, the GRI report demonstrates how Dinant’s commitment to ongoing improvement – environmentally, socially, and economically – is at the core of the Company’s growth strategy and commercial success.
Roger Pineda Pinel, Dinant’s Director of Corporate Relations and Sustainability, said, “As our GRI report shows, Dinant is expanding its business in Central America and opening new markets worldwide precisely because we have invested heavily in operating in ways that protect the environment, nurture our staff, protect human rights, and impact positively on local communities.”
Dinant’s GRI Report highlights include:
- Dinant is a full member of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, the highly-esteemed international initiative that governs how organizations vet, recruit, and train security men and women, and how they engage peacefully and transparently with communities.
- From 2021-22, Dinant implemented 27 campaigns to improve health and safety at all its facilities.
- Dinant has displaced 99% of fossil fuels in its oil palm extraction plants by increasing the use of renewable energy from 79% to 84%. Dinant’s high-tech biogas recovery unit at its oil extraction mill in Aguán uses biomass from the waste of the palm fruit to produce clean energy that is returned to the facility and steam that is used to power the boilers.
- Dinant’s palm oil extraction mills and plantations in the Lean and Aguán regions of Honduras retained two prestigious International Sustainability and Carbon Certifications – ISCC EU and ISCC Plus – in recognition of the sustainability of raw materials and products, the traceability of the supply chain, and control of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Dinant continues to protect several hundred hectares of tropical rainforest at two Wildlife Conservation Centers in Honduras that manage breeding, rearing and release programs of endangered indigenous species, including jaguar, tapir, red macaw and green iguana.
- Since 2007, Dinant has financed the employment of 12 elementary and high school teachers in the Leán and Aguán valleys, providing direct education that benefits 300 children per year and 3,900 children since the program began. In 2021 and 2022, Dinant supported 4,500 boys and girls with donations of teaching materials, and transformed the infrastructure of 24 schools to make them safe places for children to attend classes.
Mr. Pineda commented, “Transparency and accountability are essential to our way of doing business. While we have achieved a lot, we will continue to work hard to make further improvements in our operations in ways that impact positively on people and the planet.”
Dinant is investing in a range of initiatives to create an even safer and healthier environment for its female employees. These include offering professionally-staffed breastfeeding clinics for working mothers, and introducing compulsory staff training on protecting the rights of female workers and local community members. In 2021-22, over 11,000 local people attended Dinant’s courses on women’s rights and violence prevention, and child protection, as well as Dinant’s CSR policy.
Mr. Pineda continued, “These types of initiatives – and more – will continue to be our focus in the months and years ahead as we expand our business in Honduras and beyond.”
Dinant’s products are sold across Central America and the Dominican Republic. Its operations directly employ 5,500 people, as well as many thousands of contractors, vendors and suppliers. The GRI Standards enable organizations to understand and report on their impacts on the economy, environment and people in a comparable and credible way, increasing transparency regarding their contribution to sustainable development.