Corporate responsibility
As the largest food manufacturer in Switzerland and a significant player in the European food industry, we are acutely aware of the importance of sustainable food production. Only sustainable governance of limited resources such as soil, water and energy will secure the bases of agriculture and food production in the long term.
We consider the conservation of these resources and sustainable production of high-quality food in the long term to be of decisive importance. Equal consideration must be given to the needs of producers and consumers and the demands of healthy corporate development, as only a successful company can ensure sustainable, fair and equitable food production.
We want to address the challenge of minimising our impact on the environment and society in the long term in a proactive manner. We have defined eight central areas of action with clear objectives in this respect in our sustainability strategy. There is a particular focus on the areas of decarbonisation and deforestation. We have also increased our focus on the improvement and formalisation of data acquisition while, for the first time, also calculating our overall carbon footprint, including the upstream and downstream supply chain. This represents an important step in the definition of a CO2 goal for our supply chain. In addition, we conducted a comprehensive risk analysis of our own supply chain with regard to social and ecological risks. However, we are aware that sustainability is a an on-going process that demands continual energy and adaptability.
Marco Tschanz, CEO Bell Food Group
We take responsibility
The Bell Food Group also embraces its social responsibility in the area of sustainability. Sustainability plays a significant role in our corporate strategy at a variety of levels and is firmly anchored as one of three missions under the title «We take responsibility». These missions are pivotal when it comes to realising our «Leading in food» vision. The sustainability strategy is also one of the five Group-wide functional strategies providing the guidelines for all Bell Food Group business activities. Thinking and acting sustainably are part of corporate culture in the Bell Food Group. Transparency is important to us in this respect. The Bell Food Group is majority-owned by the Coop Group Cooperative, Basel, which fulfils the obligation to prepare an annual report on non-financial matters for the entire Group, including the Bell Food Group. The report is usually published in June and can be viewed at the following link:
Coop Group Reporting on non-financial matters
Our sustainability management
The Bell Food Group has changed considerably in recent years. In particular, expansion of the convenience segment and enlargement of the product portfolio through the addition of purely plant-based or blended products have expanded the focus of the sustainability strategy. In addition to animal welfare, increasing attention is directed towards climate protection, the circular economy and social responsibility in the supply chain today. We are embracing these challenges through our current Sustainability Strategy 2022–2026. We are committed in this respect to scientifically based targets pursuant to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and focus increasingly on international agreements and standards for sustainable development. These include the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, the Paris Agreement on climate change and International Labour Organization (ILO) standards.
Sustainability strategy fields of action
On the basis of a comprehensive materiality analysis, eight strategic fields of action were identified for the Bell Food Group Sustainability Strategy 2022–2026 in three dimensions, namely «Environmental responsibility», «Social responsibility» and «Governance». Our ambitious agenda encompasses specific objectives and stipulates increased cooperation with stakeholders along the entire value chain. As a consequence, the previous focus, which had primarily concentrated on the impact in our own production environment, has now expanded to include upstream and downstream areas.