Sustainability
The three pillars of sustainability are economic, environmental and social. And with pressures on the planet getting ever more intense, we all have to take responsibility for humankind’s future. Photography News contacted key names in the imaging industry to uncover initiatives that are making a difference Working to a better future
Sigma Since our founding, we have consistently developed business activities based on the following four principles, in order to fulfil our responsibility as a public entity of society. In these times, it is important to keep managing the company as before, in accordance with corporate philosophy. Our greatest contribution and responsibility is to carry out the following four points: 1. J ob creation and retention Respect for employees, maintenance of permanent and stable employment, improvement of the working environment and development of good labour. 2. Contribution to the local community and economy
Since 2012, we have been advocating ‘sustainable business development rather than short-term profit maximisation’. This includes: employment and regional stability, consideration for the environment and fairness at global level. Our mount-conversion service, high build quality and long life with excellent repair and support aren’t just marketing strategies, but are based on a coherent philosophy of ‘making good products that last longer and are used with care’. sigma-sein.com/en/voice/ SIGMACustomerSupport
building and maintaining sustainable and sincere business relationships with subsidiaries, distributors and other related parties. Proactive information disclosure to society and fair procurement. In accordance with the above philosophy, the company is sincerely responding to social needs, commensurate with the nature and scale of its business. But it is necessary to go further in the future, to clearly state specific measures and make them widely known to the world. Based on our awareness of this issue, we are currently formulating a concrete plan and intend to actively promote it. We also hope to contribute to the formation of social momentum by actively publicising the plan. initiative, including reforestation, animal protection and education programmes. These are very important to us, and we’re delighted to use a share of the profits from our Natural Line to contribute to environmental and climate protection. To date, more than €300,000 has been donated to various initiatives. Furthermore, we continue to donate 5% of the profits from our ‘green’ papers. An interesting challenge is plant-based fibres for manufacturing premium FineArt papers, with the highest demands for quality and longevity Hahnemühle stands for. We pioneered the world’s first FineArt bamboo paper in 2008. Our highly skilled technologists and R&D experts are constantly reviewing, refining and developing papers from other plant-based fibres such as hemp, agave and sugar cane. These don’t need pesticides and use less water for cultivation. In some cases, they are agricultural by-products. Another Hahnemühle milestone was the first paper mill manufacturing vegan artists' papers. We use exclusively synthetic sizing and have done since 1965, before veganism was a trend. We are ISO 14001 certified for environmental management – and recently recertified.
Provide economically, socially and culturally to the regions where our domestic and overseas bases are located. 3. Environmentally friendly production activities Compliance with laws and regulations, active investment in facilities that consider environmental impact, and adoption of production processes and technologies that avoid a cost-first mentality. Also, renewable energy facilities are installed at the factory (solar and wind power).
4. Fair and equitable transactions at domestic and international levels
Proactive participation in, and contribution to, home-grown and overseas industries,
Hahnemühle
With the Green Rooster initiative, we supported Prints for Wildlife, a digital FineArt fundraiser of nature photography to support African wildlife protection and communities during the last two years of the pandemic. Additionally, we supported the world’s first book printed on Hybrid Hemp paper, H is for Hemp , invented by us with photographer and climate impact storyteller Maren Krings. For the publishing industry, this is an alternative in times of rare and expensive book-printing materials, for publishers looking for a sustainable, plant-based paper. These projects are vitally important to us, and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to supporting enterprises that align with our environmental values, while pushing innovation in high-quality paper. We are open to suggestions on new projects to support for 2022 and 2023 that comply with our Green Rooster guidelines. hahnemuehle.co.uk
free from chemical cleaning agents, biocides or preservatives in a highly protected closed system. Studies by third parties and independent bodies testify to our environmentally sensitive actions. A closed system results in high-quality waste water at the end of our production cycle. This has been confirmed by the Paper Technology Foundation in Munich and certifies that we use water responsibly and – most importantly – sparingly. Hahnemühle’s mission to ‘protect what matters’ applies to the papers we are offering customers, continuing to drive our founding values of responsibility and care for the natural world. Our Environment Manifesto covers 12 points, including environmentally friendly production processes like the use of 100% renewable energy, and is constantly monitored and reduced with improved technology in manufacturing. We recycle our own production waste or offcuts, and rely on recycled packaging and climate-neutral shipping to customers in more than 130 countries. Since 2008, we have been supporting both regional and international environmental protection projects through the ‘Green Rooster’
BETTINA SCHEERBARTH Corporate communications, Hahnemühle FineArt
Hahnemühle has been sustainable in the truest sense since its founding year in 1584. Its sole production site in Germany is located in a landscape conservation area. Accordingly, paper production must be environmentally friendly, sustainable and strictly controlled. The pure spring water Hahnemühle has used since its early days is fed into the nearby river Ilme –
22 Photography News | Issue 100
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