Dibella laid the foundations for corporate social responsibility back in the early 2010s. Since then, we have been consistently committed to implementing socially and environmentally responsible textile production and have initiated and completed numerous lighthouse projects in our supply chain. We first outlined our activities and goals for the first time in our 2012 sustainability report. Since then, we have regularly documented our progress. The latest edition of our sustainability report is now published! It covers the period from 1 January 2023 to 31 July 2024 and focuses on the three core topics of Environmental, Social & Corporate Governance (ESG).
We have continued to make further progress in the area of the environment. Particularly pleasing developments include a consistently high proportion of GOTS and Faitrade-certified products as well as the high rate of increase in the implementation of Cotton made in Africa, a sustainable, low-emission cotton from Africa, in our supply chain in accordance with the mass balance system. More information: www.cottonmadeinafrica.org/massbalance.
We are also proud of our reforestation project initiated in India to offset our CO2 emissions: We have now planted over 4,000 trees in the state of Tamil Nadu. Some of these were destroyed by a herd of elephants in search of water, but we are working to replant them. There is also good news on circular value chains: As one of the five founding members of CIBUTEX, we are involved in various projects to recover textile resources and reduce environmental impact.
What we do in our supply chain, we also do in our own business: By participating in the company bike scheme, purchasing electric vehicles, minimising business air travel and using green electricity, we are reducing our CO2 emissions.
Over the past 18 months, we have again initiated or completed a number of social projects. One was based on a complaint in our supply chain, where the employees of a partner company complained about uncomfortable chairs. We responded to the complaint and, with the involvement of the sewing department, purchased appropriate chairs. Through our own foundation (the GoodTextiles Foundation), we have also initiated or supported various measures in the areas of school education in India and, in cooperation with the Aid by Trade Foundation (CmiA), drinking water supply in Africa. We have not been idle in our own company either: To promote a good working environment, we introduced weekly cross-departmental meetings, mobile offices, a free drinks service, a cake day as well as a weekly organic vegetable box and ‘execise’ breaks (yoga, Pilates).
In the third core area, corporate governance, we have also made significant progress in recent months. For example, 99.5% of our textiles have now been awarded the Green Button, meaning that we meet all the key requirements of the German Supply Chain Act. We have also made progress on digital supply chain transparency: We are creating more Respect Codes for our customers. These reveal the origin and production steps of our goods and can be viewed via a link or QR code. Following the end of the coronavirus-related travel restrictions, we have also reintroduced the business trips to India that we organise. Customers and interested parties can follow the cotton fibre from the field to the finished product, while learning about the positive ecological and social conditions in our supply chain.
Since our first sustainability report, published 12 years ago, we have achieved a lot and made a difference. We have set new goals for the future. By 2030, we want to reduce our company-related carbon dioxide emissions by 45% relative to sales. Over the same period, we want to increase the proportion of organic Fairtrade cotton to 20% and the total proportion of sustainable cotton (GOTS, Fairtrade, CmiA, etc.) to 70% of production. These may be ambitious goals, but we are inspired by Paolo Coelho, who once said: ‘The world changes by your example, not by your opinion.’
You will find the full report soon available for download at Sustainability along the entire value chain - Dibella (dibellatextiles.com)