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Ragus launches its first ESG report
At Ragus, we place a high value on social and environmental sustainability and transparency across our supply chain. We have a responsibility to our stakeholders, employees, customers, supply chain and its workers and the wider community to be clear where we stand on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, and to make known our commitments and performance. This is why we have published our first ESG report.
The report sets out our ESG framework and strategy, our commitments, the actions we are taking now and those we plan to take in the future. Below, we provide an overview of the report.
What is our ESG framework strategy and key commitments?
Ragus has established an ESG framework and strategy that spans five core pillars:
1. Protecting the planet by reducing emissions and consumption
2. Sustainable sourcing and leading by example, supporting an ethical supply chain
3. Employees and our workplace, implementing fair, inclusive policies
4. Charity and engagement to uphold our commitment to social responsibility, such as through our work with Project Seagrass and Thames Valley Adventure Playground
5. Sustainability framework, strong governance, ESG delivery and impact reporting
Each pillar aligns with our overarching organisational goal: to achieve responsible and sustainable growth. We are currently developing KPIs and targets against each of these pillars to enable us to accurately assess and report on our performance and impact.
What have we achieved so far?
Safeguarding and strengthening our commitment to sustainable sourcing
The ESG report details everything from how we are making our packaging more sustainable to how we are investing in our direct employees and supporting our local community through outreach programmes. But as an industrial pure sugar ingredients manufacturer building long-term supplier relationships, at the heart of our ESG commitments and actions is our work to making our supply chain as responsible as possible. Sustainable sourcing is an essential part of this.
We’ve written many times before about how we only source our raw sugars from high-quality sugar beet and sugarcane from responsible sources around the world. This commitment, outlined more fully in our ESG report, is demonstrated through the accreditations we hold and associations with multiple standards organisations. These include:
Looking to the future
As we look ahead to the future, we are establishing initiatives and setting targets and KPIs across our ESG pillars and finalising our strategy. Just some of the planned actions we outline in the report are:
· Exploring how we map and scope the Scope 3 Emissions in our supply chain by December 2024 (we have already established Scope 1 and 2 baseline emissions)
· Setting new emissions reduction targets in 2024 following plant upgrades
· Increasing the number of our suppliers who are SEDEX certified
· Developing a volunteering policy in 2024
· Conducting supply chain mapping in 2024 to reduce risks, such as climate change and waste emissions, and improve transparency while supporting suppliers to gain relevant certifications
· Establishing new targets for annual charitable donations
· Identifying opportunities for sustainable waste management and moving to a more circular economy
For more information, visit our Responsibility page where you can download our 2023 ESG report. For sugar news and updates, browse SUGARTALK and follow Ragus on LinkedIn.
Ben Eastick
A board member and co-leader of the business, Ben is responsible for our marketing strategy and its execution by the agency team he leads and is the guardian of our corporate brand vision. He also manages key customers and distributors.
In 2005, he took on the role of globally sourcing our ‘speciality sugars’. With his background in laboratory product testing and following three decades of supplier visits, his expertise means we get high quality, consistent and reliable raw materials from ethical sources.