As part of a communications policy based around increasing openness and transparency towards its stakeholders, Mapei SpA, the Group's mother company, is now, unsurprisingly, publishing its first Sustainability Report. This important paper is designed to provide an overview of the aims and targets associated with Mapei’s business operations down the years: to improve people’s quality of life and protect the environment by researching into and developing increasingly sustainable products.

I firmly believe we should promote Business Sustainability in Italy and abroad, as profit-making is not the only purpose of a company. A company has a clear purpose in society. Ethical, scientific, humane and cultural duties lie at the very foundations of a business’s true character and reputation.

That is why all businesses must interact with their surroundings, environment and workers: the stakeholders. A sustainability report encompasses all their requirements and assesses the impact they cause, whether it be positive or negative.

In the introductory letter in which Giorgio Squinzi, the Group’s President, presents the Sustainability Report, it states that “tradition, experience and the desire to excel have allowed Mapei to become one of the leading companies in the manufacture of chemical products for the building industry. We are always looking to the future, thinking about what more we can do for our customers, our people and, more generally speaking, the community”.

At the end of 2016 the Mapei Group's continual growth - 81 subsidiaries in 53 different countries; 71 manufacturing plants in 33 countries across five continents; 28 Research & Development centres; 1.4 billion Euros invested in manufacturing facilities from 1937 to 2016; 8,493 employees for a consolidated turnover of 2.3 billion Euros on 31^st December 2016 - was the result of a success story built around internationalisation, specialisation in the building industry and Research & Development.

Operating in the chemical products industry, over the years Mapei has devised and manufactured a vast array of winning recipes for its products and so it has decided to focus this first Sustainability Report on the recipe that has allowed it to grow sustainably over time and maintain its leadership in the industry.

This recipe is made out of a combination of ingredients that are all cleverly dosed and balanced:

■      research and innovation working alongside the customer to come up with efficient and sustainable solutions;

■      an efficient manufacturing system respecting the territory and environment;

■      constant investment in people so as to grow together;

■      tradition and excellence at the community’s service.

The 2016 Sustainability Report is confined solely to the Group’s mother company, Mapei SpA, although the introductory chapter also provides facts and figures about the Mapei Group in its entirety.

The paper has been drawn up in accordance with GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) Sustainability Reporting Standards and focuses on the main environmental, social and economic factors characterising the company.

Reading this first Sustainability Report clearly highlights how genuine commitment to sustainability allows the Group to manage its business operations in a way that brings together its social, environmental and economic values in a carefully balanced and dynamic mix.

For Mapei sustainability means, first and foremost, supplying long-lasting, high-quality products while reducing impact on the health of people, applicators and end users, and all this would not be possible without lots of people’s help.

As Giorgio Squinzi notes: “The team spirit running through our Group and the focus on individual talent and the ability to innovate and up-to-date are the real keys to the company’s success”.

But dedication and focusing on people are not confined to just our staff and business partners: Mapei has always been acutely aware of the importance of generating value across the territory and of being actively involved in the everyday life of the surrounding community, supporting people and activities through cultural-sports sponsorships and social aid.

Mapei’s first Sustainability Report is the result of a strong desire to talk about all this, conveying the ethical-transparent approach and powerful sense of business responsibility that have always characterised Mapei.