C&A helps victims and families and accelerates programmes for fire safety in Bangladesh supplier base.
Sustainability has a long tradition at C&A
Sustainability is one of the underlying principles behind our business model that looks beyond the purely short-term consideration of risks, opportunities and results. As a family company in existence since 1841, we have learned that sustainability demands a strategy that goes beyond financial reports.
At C&A all activities in this area are coordinated by Sustainable Business Development (SBD).
WE CARE
We take seriously our responsibility for our employees, customers and everyone who is part of our supply chain and involve our partners throughout the entire supply chain in important matters concerning the environment, product safety and employment conditions.
Three important examples:
Sumangali in India illegal and unacceptable
> C&A Foundation Supports the Fight Against Sumangali Schemes
Zero tolerance of child labour
Zero Discharge 2020
> Our commitment
> Implementing the Joint Roadmap - First update
> Implementing the Joint Roadmap - Second update
> Implementing the Joint Roadmap - Third update
> ZDHC Releases Inaugural Annual Report & Draft Joint Roadmap, Version 2
Update C&A Individual Action Plan
C&A reports on its Benchmark study ZDHC commitment
> Summary of Discharge Report
> Full version of Discharge Report
Safe and sound
Our customers have to be able to rely on the safety of the goods they buy from us at all times. To enable us to guarantee this, our articles are subject to a variety of testing and safety measures – from the fibre through to the finished product. The Quality Assurance Department (QAD) at C&A supervises compliance with specified guidelines and defines in-house control standards if the values required by law appear to us to be inadequate. Read more about quality and product safety in the section "Making products safe".
Protecting the environment is always in vogue at C&A.
Protecting the environment is an essential component of C&A's social responsibility. More than 20 years ago we had already firmly anchored our long-term commitment to the environment in our company structures by establishing the Environmental Working Party. Among other topics, it addressed issues such as waste avoidance, recycling and energy saving. This was followed by cooperations with environmental organisations. The C&A Code of Conduct was developed in 1995 specifying both social and ecological standards in the supply chain.
Our environment protection strategy pursues two main objectives:
1. to reduce our total energy consumption in all relevant areas – from transport to the presentation of merchandise – through measures to increase efficiency and
2. to meet our remaining energy needs from renewable resources with low CO2 emissions.
More detailed information about our organic cotton project and other activities can be found in the section "Protecting the environment".
We don't just talk about responsibility, we take it
Taking responsibility for people and the environment is one of our most important objectives and firmly integrated in our management processes and our way of thinking. All along the textile chain, which encompasses a multitude of different supply partners and interests, it is essential to introduce and implement our principles in a way that is both pragmatic and practicable.
These principles are reflected in the C&A Code of Conduct, compliance with which forms the basis of contracts with all our suppliers. This compliance is monitored by SOCAM, an independent organisation, which carries out well over 2,000 inspections of manufacturing facilities a year, most of them unannounced. By this means, over the course of the past few years it has been possible to create significantly better working conditions in manufacturing countries. Especially in the fight against child labour C&A has achieved some considerable success.
For more about working conditions, please also refer to the section "Supporting people"
