In 2021, the economic context related to the Covid-19 pandemic required significant resources to be mobilized to preserve the company’s interests in the short term. To avoid weakening a highly stretched organization, the initiative was continued, but at a slightly slower pace than expected.

ESG is an international acronym for the environmental, social and governance criteria that generally constitute the three pillars of non-financial performance.

The environmental criterion notably takes waste management, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the prevention of environmental risks into account. The social criterion addresses accident prevention, staff training, respect for employee rights, social dialog, etc. And the governance criterion pays attention to the independence of the Board of directors, the management structure and the transparency of the management bodies.

John Cockerill has chosen to structure its roadmap according to this breakdown. It is structured around five strategic pillars, each accompanied by several commitments. The issues they address are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

To date, all the commitments are being deployed. All are not yet accompanied by specific indicators and objectives for the 2030 and 2050 deadlines. Given the diversity of the Group’s activities and locations, this cross-functional methodological work is still in progress. It relies on an ESG project team, which itself coordinates work groups and external advisors. The objective is to deliver all the components of a non-financial report as quickly as possible. A Sustainable Committee will be set up in 2022 to orchestrate the process at Group level. It will report directly to the Board.

The non-financial indicators measured and available to date are published in the pages of this report, with, for the environmental dimension, a focus on carbon emissions that have been avoided or reduced.