The Chilean company that produces and exports traditional and organic fresh fruit has taken on the challenge of knowing, measuring and managing the impact of its activities, thus joining the UN’s sustainable objectives and becoming one of the pioneers in the industry in promoting this issue.
According to the United Nations, sustainable development is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. To achieve this, it is essential to harmonize three basic elements: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection.
In the produce industry this takes on great relevance, as it is directly dependent on the environment. In addition, consumers have changed in recent years, to the point that 58% state that they would replace a brand if they do not agree with issues such as the type of packaging, how the raw material was obtained or the labor used, according to a study by the Natural Marketing Institute in the United States.
It is within this framework that, after months of collaborative work and under the commitment to ensure the progressive incorporation of a sustainable approach in different areas, Copefrut, Chile’s leading fruit exporter, formalized a policy that seeks to promote this matter in the transversality of the business, including all its processes, products, internal practices, services and actions.
Andrés Fuenzalida, Copefrut’s general manager, explains. “We want to strengthen our commitment to those who consume our fruit products, through innovation, variety, quality and a progressively sustainable proposal. To this end, we will continue to work together with our collaborators and producers for a resilient, sustainable and value-generating agriculture in the communities where we are present”.
To achieve the sustainability objectives established in the policy, six pillars of action were defined: Corporate Governance, Producers, Communities, Environment, Employees and Customers. These pillars together adhere to the fulfillment of 9 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), created from the intention of a new global agenda with goals for 2030, and which include actions ranging from the elimination of poverty to combating climate change, promoting education, women’s equality or improving efficiency in the use of resources.
In this regard, Carolina Prado, Copefrut’s Assistant Manager for Innovation and Sustainability, says: “This is how we declare our position as a company on sustainability issues and establish the roadmap for the coming years. We are pioneers in the industry in assuming sustainability as part of our work and, undoubtedly, this distinguishes us to our customers, who every day are looking for products with sustainable attributes”.
