The ESG Strategy of the Unibep Group
The Supervisory Board of the Unibep Group adopted a document titled “The ESG Strategy. Perspective 2023-2025”. "The Unibep Group has been working with a focus on environment protection, society, and corporate governance matters for years. However, as an organisation, we need to take another step — we want to ensure that we can conduct our business activities in accordance with the principles of sustainable development,” said Dariusz Blocher, President of the Management Board of the Unibep Group. "This is the expectation of all stakeholders of the Unibep Group: clients, financial institutions, investors, state and local government authorities, non-governmental organisation, but also local communities and our employees. We are convinced that the adopted strategy will enable us to operate in a more sustainable manner and contribute to creating a better world for future generations,” he added.
The ESG Strategy of the Unibep Group is based on five strategic goals:
- Limiting the environmental impact throughout the whole value chain, minimising environmental risks, and promoting activities that create opportunities for sustainable operations.
- Ensuring safe and satisfying working conditions.
- Building relationships and developing an organisational culture that incorporates the idea of sustainable development.
- Raising consciousness about universal human rights among stakeholders.
- Ethics in action.
E Area: Care for the natural environment
“The construction industry is strictly connected with the environment protection in many areas, directly through implementation of such projects like waste treatment plants, biogas plants, photovoltaic farms, but also indirectly during implementation of all investments and related energy consumption, water usage, as well as waste, material, and soil management. Therefore, adopting a more sustainable approach and reducing the environmental impact is a priority for the Unibep Group,” said Magda Kretowicz, Environment Protection Office Manager at Unibep and the Leader of the Environment Area at the Unibep Group.
The Unibep Group in the E Area commits primarily to reduce the greenhouse gases emissions (Scope 1 and 2 according to the European directive) by at least 38% by 2030 compared to 2021. It is also crucial for the company to decrease the emissions in the entire value chain (Scope 1, 2, and 3 according to the European directive) and achieve net zero emission by 2050.
The company is developing enhanced environmental protection standards, which, when implemented during the planning and execution stages, aim to reduce environmental impact and prevent environmental accidents. Moreover, it promises to reduce resource wastage and minimize the amount of generated construction waste year after year, including increasing the recycling rate for waste that can be mechanically separated in a technically reasonable manner.
The development of the power and industrial construction segment is one of the main goals of both the ESG strategy and the business strategy of Unibep. Unibep became involved in the transformation of the Polish towards zero- and low-emission, focusing on the principles of green economy, which involves, among others, construction of municipal waste incineration plants, cogeneration installations, gas boiler rooms, distributed heating systems, and projects involving the transformation and modernisation of current coal-fired systems into low-emission systems.
The Unibep Group remains committed to promoting wooden modular construction. Unihouse, the company from the Unibep Group, remains a pioneer in the Polish market for producing modern ecological modular buildings with a wooden frame. Unihouse conducts its business on the markets of Norway, Sweden, Germany, and Poland. We construct not only multi-family residential buildings but also office buildings, hotels, dormitories, kindergartens, schools, and medical clinics. The Unibep Group also intends to use its potential in reconstruction of Ukraine.
The Company Unidevelopment from the Unibep Group commits to acquire environmental certifications for significant development investments undertaken in years 2023-2025. As a developer, it pledges to plan residential investments designed and executed in accordance with environmental standards and sustainable development principles. Certain parameters will be subject to particular appraisal. These include the impact on climate change, use of natural resources, waste production, as well as air and water pollution.
G Area: for the benefit of the organisation and its stakeholders
The company is working on improving policies to create a friendly work environment that is open to diversity and free from any forms of mobbing and discrimination, in particular based on gender and age. Promoting and popularising the reporting channel among employees will be crucial in achieving the goal.
“We see many benefits in our daily work that gender diversity brings, especially in managerial positions. These include diversification of perspectives, a variety of skills, and increased efficiency,” said Aneta Andruszkiewicz, HR Director and the Leader of the Society Area at Unibep Group. “Women in specialist and managerial positions account for 40% of the white-collar employees in our organisation.” The women representation has tripled over the last 10 years.
The company will have to put a particular effort into building a sustainable supply chain. The task requires employees to collect and verify data that will be used to develop a professionally evaluated and qualified base of suppliers, with whom the companies from the Unibep Group will eventually enter into cooperation and conclude implementation agreements.
“Ultimately, we would like to enter into cooperation only with subcontractors and suppliers who introduce measures aiming to minimise the environmental impact, consider social matters, including safety of employees, observe their rights, and efficiently manage their operations to ensure sustainable development and minimise negative impact on the environment and society,” said Natalia Michaluk, Deputy of Legal Team Director at Unibep and the Leader for Corporate Governance Area at Unibep Group.
Many years of practice
The Unibep Group has been conducting a responsible and sustainable business for years. Since 2016, it has been presenting sustainability reports that describe its environmental, social, and economic activities.
“Our commitment to environment, society and corporate governance stems from the belief that as one of the leaders in the construction market, we must be responsible and actively work towards building a sustainable future that positively impacts the environment and society,” said Dariusz Blocher.