Kibar Holding, which defines sustainability as “the realization of all activities in line with the principles of sustainability”, is taking firm steps towards its 2025 Targets within the framework of its Sustainability Strategy published in 2020. The strategy is based on the United Nations 2030 Agenda and lays the foundation for the transition to a carbon-neutral circular economy.
Within the scope of its 2025 targets, the Holding, which has also launched its supplier sustainability program this year, works to create sustainable value for its stakeholders in more than 100 countries on 5 continents.
Kibar Holding, which places sustainability at the center of all its activities and decision-making mechanisms, published its 10th Sustainability Report this year . The report also includes the 2022 progress for the 36 targets followed by the Group with 92 performance indicators within the scope of the “2025 Sustainability Strategy”.
Kibar Holding, an export-oriented Group, started the “Kibar Holding Supplier Sustainability Program” project, which guarantees the critical sustainability priorities of more than 5 thousand active suppliers and monitors their practices, with the responsibility of adopting the sustainability principles of its stakeholders. Within the scope of the program called K-STAR, the Group's wide ecosystem consisting of more than 5 thousand stakeholders from different parts of the world becomes a business partner in sustainability. This paves the way for a centralized management of responsible purchasing activities in line with the Group's sustainability strategy.
Two new standards have been added
Kibar Holding CEO and Sustainability Committee Chairman Haluk Kayabaşı emphasized that in 2022, when global conflicts, trade wars, energy crisis and inflationary pressures continued, as Kibar Group, they continued their investments without slowing down by achieving their growth targets thanks to their adaptability and agility. CEO Kayabaşı said, “Our determination to realize economic growth in full compliance with sustainability principles has a great impact on our success. We continue all our activities with reference to international standards in this field. We have extended the scope of transparency in addition to accountability in corporate sustainability reporting at the highest standards.
Kayabaşı stated that they have included the progress they have made in the last two years within the scope of the "Women's Empowerment Principles" and added that they have added two new standards to the standards they follow this year. Noting that these standards are the 'World Economic Forum Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics' and the 'Climate-Related Financial Disclosure Task Force', Kayabaşı said, "As last year, we have ensured that the information regarding our activities is verified through independent auditing this year."
Kibar Holding received assurance statements for more than 80 environmental, social and governance performance indicators in the 2022 Sustainability Report, within the scope of the International Assurance Audit Standard and Assurance Audits Regarding Greenhouse Gas Statements.
Dozens of projects have been implemented
With its investments in renewable energy sources, as of 2021, Kibar Holding has neutralized the electricity consumption-related emissions of Assan Aluminum, one of its energy-intensive companies. In just the last three years, nearly 30 new projects have been implemented that will contribute to the fight against climate change and the circular economy. With the Waste Water Recovery Facility investment in Asım Kibar Organized Industrial Zone, approximately 500 thousand cubic meters of water was recovered this year. While the amount of recycled and reused raw materials has increased by 49% in the last 7 years, the amount of recycled waste has increased to 99.3%.
Within the framework of Kibar Holding's strategy to protect biodiversity, the “Sea Daffodi” plant, which is under the threat of extinction, was brought back to the ecosystem following the endangered “European Blue Star” plant, in cooperation with Assan Aluminum and Kocaeli University.
Through the “Kibar Group Sustainability Platform”, information and awareness-raising activities were carried out for the employees regarding the fight against climate change.
The new generation working model was put into use with the “Work is OURs, Life is OURs” project, which aims to strengthen the work-life balance of the employees.
Established within the scope of corporate social responsibility activities, the "Kibar Volunteers" platform has implemented nearly 100 projects in five years.
The number of female employees is increasing rapidly
Being a signatory of the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs), Kibar Holding increased the number of female employees in its companies by 11.1% in 2022 compared to the previous year, thanks to its practices to support women's employment to prevent gender equality. Thus, this rate has increased by 54.1% in the last seven years. The rate of female senior managers has increased by 41.7% in the last 7 years.
Work continues on “36 Targets”
The “36 Targets” that Kibar Group aims to achieve by 2025 in the field of sustainability include targets such as achieving economic growth in line with sustainability principles, increasing the number of female employees and the share of women in senior management roles, improving professional development and engagement, completing the digital transformation of all companies, maintaining the highest product and service quality, implementing clean and eco-friendly technologies and processes.
The Group continues to work in the light of concrete objectives such as ensuring sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources, improving contribution to actions for climate change, increasing recycling and reuse, development of global collaborations, ensuring that stakeholders adopt sustainable development principles and goals, and increasing the number of activities for social responsibility projects.