"We have made it a point to reduce our impact on the environment. Our CSR strategy focuses on reducing emissions. We invest in improving our production accordingly.”

How important are ESG criteria for your company?

As a leading manufacturer of primary pharmaceutical and cosmetic glass packaging, SGD Pharma sees growing demand for more sustainable solutions from its customers. We work with them to reduce their own carbon footprint. At SGD Pharma, we are committed to conducting our business in a sustainable and ethical manner. Our top priority is to accelerate the decarbonization of the manufacturing of products and solutions we offer to our customers. To do this, we work across the entire value chain and engage with all stakeholders - suppliers, employees, customers, local communities, local and global nauties, our board of directors, investors and CSR committee. SGD Pharma is committed to this entire supply chain and aims to become an example in the decarbonization of glass manufacturing processes in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry. To achieve this, we have reviewed our CSR strategy and developed an ambitious decarbonization roadmap. We have set ambitious targets and will use the opportunity of rebuilding our furnaces at all our production sites (5 worldwide) to reduce energy consumption and increase the use of low-carbon energy. We made great strides in this area in 2022, when we had our first third-party validation of our scope 1 and 2, carried out by KPMG. In total, four of our factories are already ISO 50001 certified, including our production site in Zhanjiang, China.


How does your company pave the way for creating sustainable and responsible business practices in China?

Our Chinese factory in Zhanjiang was the first and remains one of the few glassworks in our sector to be SA8000 certified in China. This is a great success, and it’s just the beginning, as we have already planned to obtain this certification for our other factories around the world. In 2022, SGD Pharma also expressed its support for the United Nations Global Compact, for the fourth year. Since 2020, our CSR strategy has been aligned with the 10 principles of the Global Compact and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In 2022, we took the next step by sponsoring the UN’s International Year of Glass initiative.

Do you have any concrete examples in China?

In our Zhanjiang factory, we offer a working environment that strives to be best-in-class:

  1. Equal opportunities and no pay gap between men and women.

  2. In 2022, we helped 61 people in difficult situations by providing them with a job.
  3. We have a long-standing relationship with the Zhanjiang Special School for Disabled Students to offer employment to some of their graduates every year. In 2022, we employed 13 students from the school.
  4. We are SA8000 certified, which confirms our actions to provide a fair work environment for our employees. This certification rewards companies that comply with labor laws, including the limit of 36 overtime hours per month.
  5. In 2022, we delivered more than 22,000 hours of training, with the majority focused on employee safety. We have also made a point of reducing our impact on the environment. Our CSR strategy focuses on reducing emissions, and we invest in improving production accordingly. In 2018, we shifted our energy use from heavy oil to LNG, which helped reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 10%. We also invested in a DeNox system with high filtration rates. Each year, we take new steps to make progress on water and waste management. Our global responsibility is to support and protect nature as much as possible. We have started planting mangroves in our city of Zhanjiang to support biodiversity protection. In 2022, we planted 1,000 trees, each protecting marine life, insects, and birds. In 2024, we will continue to plant more mangroves to reach 10,000 trees. Mangrove trees also offer the added value of absorbing carbon. With 1,000 trees planted, we offset the carbon emitted during all our train journeys in China.

What are the challenges in achieving some of these improvements?

Consumers of cosmetics demand products that respect working conditions. That is why we decided, about ten years ago, to be the first glassmaker in China certified SA8000. SA8000 is a widely recognized social responsibility standard that aims to promote and ensure decent working conditions, fair wages and the protection of workers' rights. In China, very few glassmakers are SA8000 certified. Compliance with this standard, despite the significant additional cost it generates, is understood by more and more cosmetic brands as a necessary value for their end consumers.

What are the main challenges in terms of ESG criteria for your company?

In 2024, we will launch our first production with post-consumer recycled glass (PCR). Glass can be recycled ad infinitum, which is a big advantage over plastic. It took 10 years for PCR production to become a standard in Europe. In China, as this is a new approach, we need to find sources that comply with the law regarding the presence of heavy metals and other prohibited materials.

Connection number 97| 2023 - Remarks collected by P. TI