CSR beliefs at Lesaffre Group
At Lesaffre, we’re always seeking new perspectives. It’s in our DNA, and has been ever since we started out in 1853. As part of our mission “Working together to better nourish and protect the planet”, we’re constantly looking to go further alongside our pioneering teams. By placing fermentation at the heart of our business, at Lesaffre we’re playing a part in employing biotechnology advances for a healthier and more sustainable future. The incredible potential of microorganisms (yeasts, bacteria) allows us to position ourselves in the markets for bread making, taste and food pleasure, nutrition/health and industrial biotechnology.
ECHO – the Lesaffre charity program
ECHO, more than just a solidarity program …
Contribute to community development through education, nutrition and the preservation of our environment,
Play our role as a responsible local economic player,
Express our values through our acts of solidarity,
These are the ambitions of ECHO, Lesaffre’ s solidarity program created in 2019 to serve our mission “Working together to better nourish and protect the planet”.
By taking part in the ECHO program, you strengthen your impact on the community by combining your individual resources with those of the company as a whole.
Part of our CSR commitments, ECHO gathers ALL SOLIDARITY ACTIONS OF THE GROUP, undertaken by the subsidiaries or BU, on behalf of Lesaffre and monitored by an employee or a group of employees.
OUR CHARITY POLICY: Lesaffre, as a responsible local economic player, aims to carry out solidarity projects that illustrate its mission “Working together to better nourish and protect the planet”.
3 criteria to guide our choice of projects to support
Even if subsidiaries and BUs remain entirely free to choose the local solidarity initiatives they wish to support, we have established 3 criteria to guide our choices:
- Education: Projects promoting access to education for disadvantaged or excluded people.
- Nutrition: projects to enable people to eat healthily
- Environment: Actions designed to have a positive impact on the environment
Ecovadis
EcoVadis provides holistic sustainability ratings service of companies, delivered via a global cloud-based SaaS platform. The EcoVadis Rating covers a broad range of non-financial management systems including Environmental, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement impacts.
EcoVadis recognition certificates and medals are intended for use by companies assessed by EcoVadis that meet specific eligibility and licensing criteria, with the aim of promoting their CSR performance.
This year, we are delighted to announce that we have obtained a silver medal and achieved a score of 59/100 (+14 compared to 2022!), which places us in the top 20% worldwide.
Lesaffre Bulgaria CSR activities
At Lesaffre Bulgaria, we’re giving our contribution for Lesaffre Group mission, on a daily basis by selling quality products, delivering the best services, maintaining trusted partnerships with customers and last, but not least, developing and expanding our CSR policy in cooperation with stakeholders. Mutual charity campaigns are being developed and realized with local businesses, customers and organizations, among which is the French-Bulgarian chamber of industry and commerce as well as the Bulgarian Red Cross. The alliance between Lesaffre and these two organizations has being maintained through different campaigns in the years and continues.
It is already tradition for Lesaffre Bulgaria to initiate and participate in social campaigns related to nutrition, in line with the global mission – “Working together to better nourish and protect the planet”!
Baking Center Academy
In 2022 Lesaffre Bulgaria had started developing its first own CSR initiative – Baking Center Academy. Like its name shows, it is supported from the local Baking Center. Lesaffre Bulgaria team have added one more application tо the many already existing ones of this place, just more unusual one. It often started working as a vocational training base for refugees, as an academy for future bakers. The project aims to support the integration of political refugees in our country by providing them an opportunity for additional professional qualification on the bread production field.
The Baking Center Academy initiative is realized in partnership with the Bulgarian Red Cross, certified local training center “Rulan” and local craft bakery, customer of ours – “Provance”. Academy has at least two classes graduates per year, that have the chance to start working in local bread production sites or even open their own bakery business with Lesaffre Bulgaria support.
