Impact Report
“StarSand” by Tommaso Rubechi
“Far from lights, roads, street lamps and cities. Immersed in the desert, without Wi-Fi and without internet. Isolated. Lost under millions of stars.”
Welcome to our Impact Report
In recent years we have digitized the Report not only to make data consultation more interactive, providing a constantly updated version, but also and above all to reduce paper consumption.
This year’s cover depicts a solitary man immersed in the Wadi Rum desert, lost under a night sky shining with constellations. This image evokes the stillness and serenity of nature, while emphasizing the vastness of the universe and our role as small dots inside. In this immense context, the distance from the modern frenzy invites us to reflect on the importance of rediscovering a deep connection with ourselves, cultivating mental well-being and rediscovering calm and harmony with the surrounding environment. It also leads us to promote peace in an increasingly complex world, suggesting how essential it is to find meaning in the face of the grandeur of the cosmos.
Through this Report, we share our commitment to sustainability, a concept that exemplifies the importance of cooperation and mutual understanding. Respect for the environment and society, through awareness of one’s impacts, and the promotion of global peace remain fundamental principles, reminding us of their importance in building a more equitable society for all.
Thank you for taking the time to read our Impact Report. We hope that the information contained within will help you better understand Italpreziosi’s commitment to transparency and our vision for a more equitable and responsible world.
LETTER TO PARTNERS
Dear collaborators,
2023 was a year characterized by a series of events that amplified global instability. New conflicts have joined those already underway, while slowdowns in global GDP growth have been recorded. The global manufacturing sector has contracted due to the shift in consumption towards services, the decline of European industry and climate impacts. The gold market has been affected by geopolitical tensions, financial crises, rising global debt, deglobalization of trade and de-dollarization. Economic uncertainty has been accentuated by the slowdown of the Chinese economy and the risks linked to fund failures such as that of Evergrande and potential banking crises. Central banks have increased gold purchases to protect their reserves, even as global demand for bullion has fallen. In this unstable scenario, gold has maintained its role as a safe haven, preferred over cryptocurrencies.
It is precisely in this complex scenario that we wish to reaffirm our commitment to sustainability and transparency. We firmly believe that openly and responsibly sharing our sustainable practices, and the management of our impacts, through our Report is crucial to inspiring positive action and promoting collaboration in the sector. This is particularly significant in light of the recent update to the CSRD Directive, which extends the scope of sustainability reporting, thus helping to improve transparency throughout the supply chain.
For Italpreziosi, 2023 was a year of great dynamism, during which we achieved significant goals and obtained important recognition. Among these, it is with great pride that we announce our transformation into a Benefit Company, a step that reflects the fundamental values of our company: pursuing not only profit objectives, but also objectives of common benefit, operating with responsibility towards the environment, society and communities. Furthermore, we have successfully passed the assessment process to obtain B Corp™ certification, thus becoming part of a global movement that is revolutionizing the concept of business.
During 2023, we received prestigious awards that demonstrated our commitment to sustainable performance. We were included among the top 100 Italian companies thanks to the 2023 Sustainability Award, promoted by Kon Group in collaboration with ELITE. In addition, we were honored with the 2023 Sustainability Leader award, created by Il Sole24ore and Statista, which celebrates the most active Italian companies in the field of sustainability.
In line with our vision of sustainability, we have kept gender equality at the heart of our policies and actions, actively supporting women’s empowerment and promoting gender equality. We have organized discussion panels such as “Women driving Sustainability in Mining” and “Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs)” at major industry events such as OroArezzo and Vicenzaoro 2023. We are also pleased to have achieved gender equality certification during the year.
During 2023, we made significant progress by improving the reporting of our carbon emissions and achieving ISO 14064 certification. This important step allowed us to gain a clear understanding of our real impacts, thus starting a structured emissions reduction path based on medium and long-term objectives, currently being defined and then moving on to validation by SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative).
Alongside the challenges related to climate change, we recognize the crucial value of biodiversity for the health of our planet. For this reason, we are actively developing our Nature Roadmap, following the guidelines of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), which we joined as members in 2023. This commitment translates into the progressive integration of biodiversity into our business decisions, with the aim of promoting the most harmonious balance possible between our activities and the natural environment.
Our commitment to sustainability also extends to the entire supply chain: we firmly believe that education and training are crucial. Promoting awareness of sustainability issues among our counterparts is a fundamental prerequisite for long-term progress. To this end, we have continued to strengthen our portal dedicated to counterparties (Chain of Information) and to intensify our collaborations with international organizations and associations, including the consolidated partnership with Fairmined and planetGOLD, and, recently, also with IRMA (Initiative For Responsible Mining Assurance). These initiatives also involve major international organizations such as the United Nations and the OECD, as well as counterparts from the public and private sectors and non-governmental organizations.
Internally, we have continued to invest in training our staff on crucial topics such as due diligence, health and safety and sustainability principles, thus promoting a corporate culture based on social and environmental awareness and responsibility. We have also actively encouraged our employees to reduce their environmental impact through initiatives such as the internal “Champion of Sustainability” competition, periodically updated to encourage participation and innovation.
Our dedication and commitment to ensuring maximum customer satisfaction allowed us to obtain the ISO 9001 certification in 2023, a testimony to our constant commitment to the quality and efficiency of internal processes.
A heartfelt thanks to all those who, with dedication and determination, participated in our journey towards sustainability. We believe that, in our small way, we can together contribute to economic growth and the improvement of society’s well-being. We believe that a path capable of integrating economy, environment and community can form the foundations of a new culture, in which our company stands out for enhancing responsibility, sustainability, innovation and transparency, and actively contributes to promoting awareness and responsible action towards its impacts. Finally, I would like to express special thanks to the employees, the team and all the collaborators who believe in our corporate vision and mission, and who every day make it possible to realize my dream of contributing to building a better world.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
Ivana Ciabatti
President of the Board of Directors of Italpreziosi
Sustainability
according to our CEO, Ivana Ciabatti
“In my journey as an entrepreneur, I have always been guided by the sustainable path and humanistic capitalism.
With our sustainable path, we want to promote a fairer and more harmonious future, respectful of the environment, the planet’s resources and human dignity, valuing education and raising awareness with particular attention to an increase in training. I believe that sustainability is a social pact with future generations because with this journey, in our small way, we want to satisfy the current generation’s needs without compromising future generations’ ability to meet their needs. Sustainability, in our sector in particular, is a complex journey and takes a great deal of determination and courage to find new solutions.
Ethical gold, as already mentioned before, represents a very dear topic for me. I would like to remind you that through GoldLake IP, already in 2008, we were among the first in world to address these issues, and above all, to put them into practice with total traceability of gold from extraction to finished jewel. Ethics represent a way of acting, a concrete act in everyday reality. I realize that ethics is a word often used inappropriately; it is much easier to say than to put it into practice.
My vision of “human capitalism” places humans at the center, giving them economic and moral dignity. At the same time, I try to promote these practices so that more people become aware of them. We always place the person at the center of our work, guaranteeing the excellence of the services we offer to our customers and suppliers, keeping particular attention on the dialogue with the communities in which we are present, aware that our work’s true value lies in the resulting improvement in people’s quality of life.”
Our commitment
For over 39 years, our mission has been to be a point of reference for our stakeholders within the precious metals supply chain, offering excellence, quality, safety, innovation and reliability.
Our stakeholders include employees, local communities, customers, suppliers, institutions, members, organizations, companies, associations and competitors. We want to continue to create value with products and services of the highest quality and reliability, with the aim of contributing to a better precious metals industry for everyone. In fact, it is important for us to value every part of the supply chain, from the miner to the supplier, to our people, to the end customer, and more. For us, the environment, biodiversity, water and climate are fundamental actors and must be preserved and valued not only for us, but above all for future generations.
For this reason, we work daily to continue to be a leading company in sale, recovery and refining of precious metals, strengthening our position and international competitiveness through integration, cooperation and acquisition processes. Synergy with our stakeholders is and will be fundamental to advance our sustainable agenda.
Our standards and policies are in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda, on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have always characterized our business, today more than ever. We talk and collaborate with our colleagues to share and enhance the standards that we voluntarily follow and which we are convinced can change the industry’s trend, making it even more responsible. This will be possible only through sincere collaboration and transparent information, which will allow the increase of best practices.
For us, the Sustainability Report represents the tool through which to communicate to our stakeholders the results of our sustainability journey.
Our Sustainability Report is based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Core version, and is in line with the United Nations Global Compact and the SDGs. References to the GRI Standards are shown in final GRI Content Index table.
The sustainable development goals
Global targets for sustainable development
The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, presented in September 2015, identifies the 17 Sustainabe Development Goals (SDGs) that represent common sustainable development objectives on today’s complex social challenges and are a reference for ISPRA’s activities.
