Sustainable development goals in the operations of the Capital Group KĘTY S.A.

In 2023 the Capital Group of Grupa KĘTY S.A. continued the support activities for the Ukrainian employees and citizens. For that purpose it allocated PLN 305,000, whereas the total support since the outbreak of the armed conflict equalled nearly PLN 2 million.

The Capital Group treats the health and safety as a priority. Among other activities, we have provided our employees and their families with a broad access to health care services thanks to the ‘Opieka medyczna S’ medical insurance programme. In 2023, the Capital Group allocated PLN 2,857,000 as subsidy for medical packages, covering 3,696 people, which represents 77% of the employees of our domestic companies.

By way of propagation of the idea of educating through sport we enable the local communities and our employees to participate in many sports events, thus promoting a healthy lifestyle. The full scope of our activities is presented in section Community engagement.

In 2023, Grupa KĘTY partnered the campaign of ‘React to HATE’, concentrating on education in the subject of peer violence and mental health prophylactics in children and youths. The effect of the campaign has been described in section Community engagement.

Mountains not Keyboard [‘Zamiast klawiatury nasze piękne góry’] – is an initiative carried out by the ‘Grupa Kęty for the Children of the Podbeskidzie Region’ Foundation. Within the initiative, in 2023 the children under the care of the Foundation took part in 11 regular mountain excursions, covering the distance of nearly 200 km. Further plans comprise the completion of the Main Beskidy Mountains Track (500 km) and Short Beskidy Mountains Track (137 km). The initiative covers for such important aspects as physical activity and learning the balance between quality leisure time spending and the use of computers, phones or other devices.

In 2023, the Capital Group engaged for another time in the charity event entitled ‘Run with Maja’, to support children suffering of cancer in the Bielsko-Biała area. The 2023 edition was held for three children. Another idea of the run is to promote health. This time the run participants could undergo free‑of-charge medical tests.

The Capital Group is a partner of the ‘Ultrakrew’ nationwide campaign promoting blood donation. Within the two editions of the action (in winter and summer), 3,359 litres of blood were collected across Poland. More information about our engagement may be found in section Community engagement.

Grupa KĘTY S.A. was a the main partner of the International Winter Championship in Emergency Medical Services. This year 34 teams rivalled and coped with special tasks in difficult mountain conditions. Cooperation of services during training sessions contributes to our improved safety in every place in case a real emergency occurs. The Championship was organised by the Bielsko-Biała Emergency Service, which within the cooperation held a dedicated training in first aid at our headquarters in Bielsko-Biała.

Within health promotion and the World Cancer Day held on 4 February, at the Kęty plant there were held two workshop sessions devoted to breast cancer prevention by the Amazons Club of Brzeszcze. Lectures were combined with practical activities with the use of special body phantoms.

GrupaKetyTeam participated in the ‘Outdistance Breast Cancer’ Charity Run devoted to health promotion and breast cancer preventive tests.

We also care for the development of our employees ensuring access to training and language courses financed by the employer, or co-funding higher education courses. Over PLN 1.5 million was allocated to that purpose by the Capital Group in 2023.

Operating through the ‘Grupa Kęty for the Children of the Podbeskidzie Region’ Foundation, we prevent social exclusion in education by way of financing additional courses in sciences or foreign languages for children at children’s homes, as well as other speciality courses ensuring ‘a better start’ for the children and youths. In 2023, the Foundation spent PLN 535,000 on statutory activities.

‘Experience Poland with the Foundation’ is an educational program of the ‘Grupa Kęty for the Children of the Podbeskidzie Region’ Foundation, within which there are regularly held trips to national parks, or historic places and cities around Poland. In 2023 there were organised three trips during which the children under the care of the Foundation were able experience canoeing, among other things.

Since 2023 Aluprof S.A. has been partner of the CIRCON project by the Polish Green Building Association. The project focuses on sector cooperation, creation of a compendium of building design principles in compliance with the circular economy idea, as well as spreading the knowledge among the construction market stakeholders. Within the project there were drafted guidelines on how to practically apply circular economy in construction.

Aluprof S.A. partnered the 13th edition of the Green Building Summit – an international conference held in Poland in the subject of sustainable construction. The Green Building Summit, organised by the Polish Green Building Association, is an annual event gathering world class specialists, representatives of the public and private sector, scientists, architects, designers and developers, as well as general contractors who share their ideas, experience and solutions in green building. The objective of the conference is to transfer knowledge, start cooperation and establish partnership among the entities interested in creating unique projects within the construction business. In the conference, Aluprof S.A. presented a series of dedicated building solutions as well as innovative projects with the use of photovoltaic glass.

We have been operating based on the Code of Ethics, the Respect for Human Rights Policy, the Diversity Policy, and the Dignity at Work Policy, ensuring equal treatment of the employees in their place of work. Abiding by adopted rules serves raising the feeling of safety in the place of work, both in physical and mental dimensions, ensuring equal opportunities and prevention of unwanted phenomena, such as discrimination.

For many years, the Company has been developing additional employee benefits reaching beyond remuneration. Only in 2023, nearly 2,400 children of the employees received gifts on St. Nicholas’ Day. Over PLN 600 million was spent for the good cause. The children received gift cards and sweets.

In 2023, the Capital Group paid voluntarily nearly PLN 25 million to the Company Social Benefits Fund, to be assigned, as in the previous years, to holiday and Christmas subsidies.

Following the declarations set out in the Strategy, in 2023 the Company paid out PLN 603 million dividend to its shareholders as a result of 2022 profit distribution.

In 2023 the second edition of the Aluprof S.A.’s Employee of the Year competition was held. Nearly 200 people were considered. Prizes were awarded in 3 categories: Employee of the Year (separately for white-collar staff and blue-collar workers), Leader of the Year (Foreman, Master), and Manager of the Year (Coordinator, Manager Director). 24 people were honoured in the competition, including 20 finalists and 4 prize winners. The competition aims to create long-lasting and valuable relationships with employees, increasing engagement and motivation.

In 2023 the second edition of the Aluprof S.A.’s Employee of the Year competition was held. Nearly 200 people were considered. Prizes were awarded in 3 categories: Employee of the Year (separately for white-collar staff and blue-collar workers), Leader of the Year (Foreman, Master), and Manager of the Year (Coordinator, Manager Director). 24 people were honoured in the competition, including 20 finalists and 4 prize winners. The competition aims to create long-lasting and valuable relationships with employees, increasing engagement and motivation.

The average remuneration at Grupa KĘTY S.A. in 2023 amounted to PLN 8,737 and was by 22% higher than the average salary in the national economy (which equalled PLN 7,155.48 in 2023).

The ‘Get to Know the Group’ run by the ‘Grupa Kęty for the Children of the Podbeskidzie Region’ Foundation has the aim of not only creating the possibility of learning about the operations of the Capital Group but also awakening the curiosity about the world among youths, broadening their horizons by encountering other cultures, encouraging them to learn foreign languages and helping them to believe in their own abilities. In 2023, the Foundation charges visited the Slovenian company of AK Emmi as well as Ljubljana and Bled Island.

We pay particular attention to innovation of the offered products and services, as well as creating processes in the organisation. We cooperate with customers, organisations and institutions to jointly promote sustainable building, develop products for the automotive sector, or head for environmentally-friendly packaging.

As a signatory of the Global Compact we have attempted to promote and develop within our activities the ten fundamental rules relating to human rights, labour standards, environmental protection, and corruption prevention, which is a real response to inequalities.

Being a large organisation operating on the European and world markets, employing 5,500 people of various nationalities, we care for common policies and standards.

For us reduction of inequality also means acting for the people threatened with social exclusion, which is the priority function of the ‘Grupa Kęty for the Children of the Podbeskidzie Region’ Foundation. In 2023, the Foundation spent PLN 535,000 on statutory activities.

Share Your Home is a project run by the ‘Grupa Kęty for the Children of the Podbeskidzie Region’ Foundation and the City of Bielsko-Biała to promote the idea of child custody. Within the project a campaign was held in the public space and individual support was provided to foster families. Only in 2023, 35 families were cared for. The ‘Grupa Kęty for the Children of the Podbeskidzie Region’ Foundation has spent the total of PLN 120,000 on the activities related to child custody.

In 2023, a flower meadow was created at the apiary of the Kęty plant, and blueberry bushes were planted especially for the bees.

The educational activities covered an internal competition entitled ‘Winter is coming – Make a bird feeder’. The competition promoted the idea of aluminium recycling (as the feeders may be made of aluminium cans) and building biodiversity awareness. The employees, either on their own or accompanied by their children, made nearly 700 bird feeders.

Within its activities, Aluprof S.A. supports companies in green buildings certification, which has been setting the route for the construction sector development for many years. International environmental certificates, such as BREEAM, LEED, DGNB, HQE, or WELL, among others, are an acknowledgement of the growing awareness of the climate crisis and the impact the construction industry has on it. Investors and developers more and more frequently select ecological materials and solutions, which considerably improves the quality of investment projects and the life-cycle of the designed buildings.

In 2023, the Capital Group ran a number of environmental education projects. One of these, having a real impact on the local community and safety improvement, was ‘Flowers Not Waste’, which encouraged people to clean up their neighbourhoods and register the number of rubbish bags collected on a special page. In return, people received seeds for sowing flowers and flower meadows. The project was run in cooperation with a local environmental foundation from Bielsko-Biała.

‘Let’s Clean the Beskids with the Polish Tatra Society 2023’ – during the edition there were held three mountain tracks cleaning actions close to the mountains of Klimczok (Beskid Śląski), Babia Góra (Beskid Żywiecki), and Hrobacza Łąka (Beskid Mały). Jointly, 938 people, including 718 children and youths, managed to clean the mountain tracks of 6,000 litres of waste within the ‘Let’s Clean the Beskids with the Polish Tatra Society 2023’. Grupa KĘTY S.A. has been a partner of the project for many years.

Grupa KĘTY and the ‘Grupa Kęty for the Children of the Podbeskidzie Region’ Foundation joined the Poland-wide initiative of the ‘Clean Vistula River’, organising the cleaning of area along the banks of the Soła River. 360 litres of waste were collected. The initiative is headed by Credit Agricole Bank Polska, as well as EFL – Knowledge and Business.

The objective of the companies of the Grupa KĘTY S.A. Capital Group is to minimise the consumption of primary raw materials per ton of product sold, and increase the share of recycled materials in products. Actions have been taken to intensify cooperation with those suppliers who are guided by the sustainable development idea. As regards our products, we apply a product-life-cycle approach, focusing on the search for new ecological applications. In that area, we conduct our own research and collaborate with scientific centres.

‘A Top to Get a Wheelchair’ – since 2014 the Capital Group companies have been collecting plastic tops with the aim to build the awareness of waste segregation importance, and raise money for charity. Since the beginning of the initiative, we have already collected over 9 tons of plastic (640 kg in 2023).

‘Green Group’ employee suggestion programme – the suggestion of the first half of the year was a perfect example of how to reduce carbon footprint and apply circular economy rules in practice. The awarded project consists in using sodium hydroxide waste from press moulds etching in another process at Grupa KĘTY S.A., i.e. anodised products manufacturing. A complete description of the suggestion may be found on the corporate website.

Green Group’ employee suggestion programme – the suggestion of the year consisted in developing software for the operation of a CNC milling machine used in preparing certification test samples from trial sections taken in the extrusion process at the R&D Centre. The project implementation has considerably reduced energy consumption in the process of test samples preparation, limited the quantity of waste generated and improved the process efficiency. A complete description of the suggestion may be found on the corporate website.

‘Living Books’ (earlier ‘A Book Supports the Hero’) – for several years, the Capital Group companies have been engaging in an educational upcycling campaign, which promotes giving books the second life. The companies prepared special places to collect books donated by the employees. These books go to the monthly fairs organised in Bielsko-Biała. The proceeds from their sale go to support children’s homes. Another element of the initiative is building library shelves from recycled materials, which are given to children’s homes together with books. Since the beginning of the initiative in 2018, more than 100,000 books have been returned to circulation.

Grupa KĘTY S.A. received a certificate confirming the fulfilment of the duty to carry out public educational campaigns on multi-material packaging and hazardous substances packaging, under the Act of 13 June 2013 on the Management of Packaging and Packaging Waste, through the Eko Cykl Organizacja Odzysku Opakowań S.A.

In 2023 Grupa KĘTY counted among 38 most climate-aware companies. The study was initiated by the Reporting Standards Foundation, the Association of Stock Issuers and Bureau Veritas, with MATERIALITY and Energopomiar acting as supporting partners.

Renewable Energy Sources – the first PV systems within the Capital Group were erected at AK Emii in Slovernia. In 2023 works commenced to build a 500 kW capacity PV system on the roof of the 20 and 40 ton press hall in Kęty. The project is planned to be completed in the first half of 2024. The expected annual carbon footprint reduction is 335 tons of CO₂e a year.

‘70 thousand trees for 70 years of Grupa KĘTY’ – in 2023 Grupa KĘTY S.A. completed its 3-year project. In the years 2021-2023, together with our employees and the children under the care of the ‘Grupa Kęty for the Children of the Podbeskidzie Region’ Foundation, the ARKA Ecological Foundation, and the local Forestry Departments, we planted 70 thousand seedlings of beech, black alder, spruce, larch, and fir trees in the forests of: Grodziec, Bystra, Zabrzeg, Skalite, Jaworze, Wieka Łąka, Straconka and Kamienica. For the future – is a mission of our organisation, and we hope the seedlings will grow into a beautiful forest for the future generations.

In the in-house billets foundry, Grupa KĘTY S.A. carries out aluminium scrap remelting process. In 2023, more than 30,000 tons of scrap were recycled there in 2022.

Grupa KĘTY S.A. focuses on product innovations with a positive impact on the on the environment. The Company product portfolio comprises special aluminium profiles used in the production of photovoltaic panels, environmentally friendly gas boilers, energy-saving LED lamps, environmentally-friendly architectural systems and façades which improve the thermal and acoustic insulation of buildings.

Under the ‘Green Group’ employee suggestions programme employees were invited to engage in the ESG Strategy performance, with particular focus on preventing climate change. In 2023 there were 27 suggestions reported, out of which 20 were implemented.

‘Bike HELPS’ – bicycle riding promotion. For many years, the Capital Group has been the main partner of the campaign. In the years 2015-2023 the participants accumulated over 110 million km, which corresponds to CO₂ emission reduction by to nearly 275,000 tons. The charity effect is 397 bikes for children in children’s homes and community day-care centres.

In 2023, Grupa KĘTY S.A. received the Performance Standard certificate for sustainable use of aluminium, fulfilling the requirements of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI), an international non-profit organisation supported by industrial associations, aluminium producers, and processing companies. The standard defines criteria for environmentally and socially responsible aluminium value chain. The certificate confirms responsible practices in the areas of production, materials sourcing and product management, as well as determines the principles and criteria for environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG). The independent external audit was carried out by TÜV Rheinland Cert GmbH.

Starting from 2020, Grupa KĘTY S.A. has been reporting climate issues on the portal of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). CDP is an international non-profit organisation, which has been researching the level of climate awareness among companies and providing information on the climate impact of the individual companies. CDP makes the assessment based on replies to the questions within as much as 11 groups of criteria. The information received enables identification of the challenges and initiatives which are now more and more often required by the investors and customers.

Since 2014, Grupa KĘTY S.A. has been a Global Compact signatory, which means support to, adoption and application of ten fundamental rules relating to human rights, labour standards, environmental protection, and corruption prevention, in all areas of operation.

Since 2021 Grupa KĘTY S.A. has been a member of the Agenda 2030 – the purpose of the Partnership is to integrate cooperation among the representatives of various environments for the effective achievement of sustainable development goals.

In 2023, Grupa KĘTY S.A. had its social responsibility practices and conduct assessed on the EcoVadis platform and obtained the bronze medal. The assessment was carried out using a methodology based on international standards, such as: 10 UN Global Compact principles, International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), ISO 26000 standard, CERES action plan, and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, also known as the Ruggie Framework.

Aluprof S.A. is a partner of the Polish Green Building Association (PLGBC), which aims to transform the Polish construction industry towards minimising its impact on the climate. The PLGBC brings together companies in the construction and real estate sectors and promotes sustainable activities in these fields.

The companies of the Flexible Packaging Segment obtained certificates confirming fitness for recycling of 17 various types of packaging. The certificates were issued by independent research institutes of Łukasiewicz – Łódź Institute of Technology, J.S. Hamilton Research Laboratory, and Interzero Organizacja Odzysku S.A.

Since 1996, Grupa KĘTY S.A. has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and been a member of the Polish Association of Listed Companies.