Renewable energy sources reduced CO2 emissions by 25 thousand tons
By installing solar power plants, the members of Delta Holding produced 470 megawatt hours of electricity in 2022. Thus, they contributed to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 690 tons, which is the equivalent of planting more than 31 thousand trees. Thanks to the use of biomass, in the same period CO2 emissions were reduced by more than 25 thousand tons, which is the amount absorbed annually by 1.2 million trees.
The above data are part of the annual report on sustainable business in 2022, which Delta Holding published for the fourteenth year in a row. The report was presented to the media, representatives of the professional public and partners of Delta Holding in the Delta House building, the company’s headquarters. The entire report is available at this address.
“Respecting the principle of sustainability today becomes a condition for successfully talking with banks, large foreign partners, important institutions. Delta Holding set the principles of sustainability as a strategic goal of its business more than 14 years ago and we are proud to be pioneers in this domain. As pioneers, we are launching a new project for our employees through the formation of the AI Champ team. This team will have the task of contributing to the sustainable operation of the company by applying artificial intelligence in various spheres of business,” said Marija Desivojević Cvetković, senior vice president for strategy and development of Delta Holding, at the presentation of the ESG report.
In 2022, the packaging waste operator Delta Pak enabled the recycling of almost 4,700 tons of paper, saving 80,000 trees and saving almost 20,000 megawatt hours of electricity and 150 million liters of water. In the same period, water consumption in Delta Agrar, one of the largest agricultural systems in the region, decreased by a fifth.
“When it comes to “S – social”, i.e. the social aspect of the sustainability of our business, I would emphasize the great contribution to the community that we make through supporting the development of villages. Through the unique project Our Village, in the previous 4 years, we have supported hundreds of farms. During 2022, we launched the Digital Village project, in which together with our partners BioSens Institute and Mokrin House, we are raising farmers’ awareness of the importance of digitization for the sustainability of agricultural production,” said Tijana Koprivica, director of sustainable business at Delta Holding.
The report was prepared in accordance with the internationally recognized methodology of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and meets all the criteria of the advanced level of progress reports of the United Nations Global Compact. The audit of the report on sustainable business was conducted by the authorized auditing company PwC.
“Delta’s sustainability report is on track with current ESG reporting best practices in the CEE region and an exceptional basis for reporting in line with upcoming regulation. The challenge in the coming period for all economic entities will be the preparation for non-financial reporting in accordance with the requirements of the new regulation in a way that enables effective verification these requirements. This year’s report and audit represent a significant step forward in that direction,” stated Nikola Stamenić, PwC.
“Investing in sustainable business is not an expense, but an investment that brings concrete and measurable profit”, said, among other things, Milica Sredanović from IFC – International Finance Corporation, a branch of the World Bank.