An environmental approach initiated over 15 years ago.
In 2009, Diam Bouchage introduced an environmental policy that is fully integrated into all its industrial sites - all of which are now ISO 14001 certified. This approach commits the company to continuously improving the performance of its production tools by following 4 major guidelines:
- Controlling its consumption of energy and materials, and therefore its carbon footprint.
- Adopting a circular economy approach by recovering its cork by-products and waste.
- Controlling the industrial risks of its technical installations.
- Developing more environmentally-friendly products through a lifecycle eco-design approach.
An ambitious carbon trajectory
Diam Bouchage's carbon footprint for 2022 is 67,720 tonnes CO2e. Despite significant growth in production, the company's carbon footprint is 2% lower than in 2019, thanks to the control of emissions directly linked to its activity (scopes 1 & 2).
In mid-2021, Diam Bouchage committed to an ambitious trajectory that involves reducing its carbon footprint by 15% by 2025. Achieving this target will require a major 55% reduction in Scope 1&2 emissions and control of Scope 3 emissions (particularly materials and freight).
Long-term initiatives with a significant impact
Among the many commitments made by the company's governance, we would like to highlight those that will not only have a significant impact on Diam Bouchage's carbon footprint in the years to come, but also represent a genuine change in the company's culture.
"The cork we work with every day is a noble, natural material... we know how important it is to preserve our beautiful planet. Our desire to work for the future, over and above compliance with regulations, is at the heart of all our developments". Dominique Tourneix, Managing Director of Diam Bouchage
The revitalisation of cork oak forests is one of the pillars of Diam Bouchage's actions. Between 2020 and 2021, it has subsidised the planting of 5,934 cork oak trees in Provence (other plantations are currently being planned in France and Spain). At the end of 2022, after several months of waiting, discussions, technical exchanges and applications to fill in, one of the planted plots was awarded the Label Bas Carbone certification in France for "reconstitution of degraded forest stands". This is a first for a 100% local cork oak plantation, which had never before been awarded the label!
"Today, the forest is at the centre of social and environmental debates. As a stakeholder in this ecosystem, Diam Bouchage has put the forest at the heart of its CSR commitments and wishes to go even further in the exemplarity of its carbon footprint through innovation and the labelling of its projects" Fabien Nguyen, Cork buyer at Diam Bouchage.
Another key lever used by the company to reduce its carbon footprint is to improve road transport emissions. To implement the associated action plan, Diam Bouchage has signed up to the FRET21 scheme, which is based on reducing the distances travelled, optimising loading rates and choosing less emissive means of transport. The application submitted to the validation committee on 20 July formalises Diam Bouchage's objective of reducing its freight-related greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5% over the next three years.
"Freight accounts for around 10% of our emissions, so we naturally wanted to identify the most appropriate actions to reduce emissions from our freight between plants and to our customers. It was therefore essential for us to have a regular, standardised measurement tool, as well as an assessment of the impact of our projects and actions. The FRET21 initiative provided us with this framework", Caroline Forgues, CSR Manager at Diam Bouchage.
As part of its major energy management project, Diam Bouchage has also made a major investment in heat recovery from the cork cleaning units at its Spanish site. Since last June, the savings achieved already represent 60% of its gas consumption and should reach 100% after a second phase of work at the end of the year. The company has also launched several projects to install photovoltaic panels. Solar shading systems will be installed over the next few months on all the car parks at its French site, and a major solar farm project in Spain is in the process of being validated.
The 740 or so employees of Diam Bouchage are regularly made aware of environmental issues. In 2022, a major series of meetings and participatory workshops was organised for the European Waste Reduction Week. This year, the company has set itself the goal of introducing all its staff to the Climate Fresco.
"At Diam Bouchage, we want to develop a corporate culture that is shared by all our employees in terms of understanding the world of wine and awareness of climate issues. The Climate Fresco is an effective tool for raising awareness of the cause-effect relationships of climate change mechanisms and, in particular, the need to drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions". Dominique Tourneix
Responsible commitments that go beyond the environment.
Diam Bouchage is increasingly involved in sustainable development and social responsibility initiatives. The development of sales of the Origine by Diam bio-sourced cork and the revival of the French cork industry are perfect examples. This environmental and social approach has been recognised by the award in 2022 of the EcoVadis gold medal, one of the most demanding CSR rating organisations in the world.
