The supply chain, sustainability and green transition were the topics addressed during the first of three workshops organized through the ELITE Leonardo Lounge to share information and tools necessary to work towards sustainability with key Leonardo suppliers participating in the Borsa Italiana ELITE program. The starting and reference point for the initiative is the Leonardo Empowering Advanced Partnerships (LEAP) Program, launched by the company to foster the growth of an innovative, integrated and sustainable supply chain, able to better compete in international markets.
“Our objective,” underlined Giacinto Carullo, Leonardo Chief Procurement & Supply Chain Officer, “is to support and accelerate the transformation of Leonardo's supply chain, largely composed of SMEs, helping it to direct its efforts and investments to meeting the standards of international markets, in line with our Be Tomorrow-Leonardo 2030 strategic plan. We intend to address the issue in a constructive way with the awareness that these projects can serve the individual companies from an industrial and systemic perspective.”
Leonardo has conducted an assessment of its suppliers to evaluate their compliance with ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) parameters: Compliance, Business Health, Managerial Capabilities, Social-Environmental Responsibility and Innovation. The Leonardo Code of Ethics requires that the company’s suppliers transfer the same values to their respective suppliers. The results of the assessment were then used to develop the Sustainable Supply Chain Manifesto, aimed at guiding the SMEs of the supply chain, identifying three lines of action: Digital Transformation, to create a collaborative digital ecosystem; Cyber Security, to ensure adequate security standards along the supply chain; and People & Planet to introduce sustainability and ecological transition objectives.
Regarding People & Planet, Leonardo has given suppliers guidelines for implementing a sustainability and ecological transition plan by, for example, guaranteeing health and safety in the workplace through a safety management system; fostering gender equality and talent development to promote responsible business; optimizing production efficiency; mobilizing resources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and waste production; aiming for 100% renewable energy, including guaranteeing sources; designing new eco-compatible products and rethinking product lifecycles from a circular perspective.
“It's important to think in terms of planning and pursuing sustainability goals,” said Paolo Rostirolla, Leonardo Vice President Supplier Sustainability & Development. “And you can even start doing it in a simpler way before you're able to all achieve excellence in all available standards. What's important is starting now to progressively integrate a vision of sustainability into the company's management.”
Renata Mele, Leonardo Head of Sustainability, then provided an overview of sustainability issues, highlighting the growing attention that institutions and investors have in sustainability and the central role that companies have been called upon to play. Next, Riccardo Angelini (Leonardo Sustainability) illustrated the structure and focal points of the company’s Sustainability Plan to participants.
“There is strong commitment within Europe to going carbon neutral, also evidenced in Next Generation EU, which is clearly geared towards the green transition,” underlined Renata Mele. “Taking direction from our stakeholders, we are moving, within Europe, towards legislative choices that have a large impact on Member States. The Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan, as well as plans in other European countries, are centred on combating the climate crisis, the deep digital transformation and policies that combat inequality.”
Roberto Raccanelli, Senior Manager CCaSS of EY then illustrated how the European legislation on reporting will evolve, providing indications and examples to set up an initial sustainability report.
The second part of the workshop then focused on talks from Marco Grazioli, President of The European House — Ambrosetti, starting from the idea of “innovating to avoid evaporating”, and a presentation of his handbook on the theme of People, while Eliano Russo, Enel X Head of e-Industries spoke about Energy Management and Decarbonization, Vittorio Carducci Agostini, CEO of Siram Veolia Industry & Building focused on Water Management.
Leonardo’s commitment doesn’t stop here. Two more workshops have been planned for September and December of this year to further support suppliers in implementing two other points of the Manifesto: Digital Transformation and Cyber Security. A sustainable supply chain is crucial to Leonardo, which, through the LEAP Program, aims to take a leading role in industrial policy that supports the competitiveness and sustainability of the Aerospace, Defence and Security supply chain.