Damen Aligns with UN Sustainable Goals

Damen Shipyards Group, in its latest edition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report, has detailed the group's alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goals.

"Damen has designed to align its CSR approach to the UN Sustainable Development Goals in recognition of its global responsibilities as an international player," said a press note from the Dutch defense, shipbuilding, and engineering conglomerate.

The group has focused on seven of the seventeen SDGs, being the most relevant to the shipbuilding industry, whilst continuing to work towards the remainder. The seven focus SDGs are Good health and well-being; Affordable and clean energy; Industry, innovation and infrastructure; Responsible consumption and production; Climate action; Life below water and Life on land.

As detailed in the report, Damen’s in-house ESUS initiative – the Core Committee for Environmental Sustainability – is a key component in working towards some of these SDGs. The report also reveals Damen’s progress on matters of corporate compliance, employee development, commitment to the local communities in which the group operates and stimulation of local industry according to the company motto ‘think global, act local’.

“With this latest report, we have broadened our reporting, including such things as structured reporting on the life-cycles of our products and more specific examples of initiatives, activities and partnerships for sustainability and orientation towards uniting social, economic and environmental responsibility,” explained Damen CEO René Berkvens.

“I am pleased with the contents of the report, which I think shows very clearly how we continue to develop the skills of our people, expand safety measures and contribute to local communities globally. Some of the concrete achievements in the report include the 2 million accident-free man hours at Damen Song Cam Shipyard in Vietnam and our financial support of several social projects in Romania," he added.

"On the environmental front, we report on our expansion of applied ecological standards and the research we have conducted in Eco-technological fields such as alternative fuels, as well as on the development of products with a minimal environmental footprint, such as the IMO Tier III ready RSD Tug 2513," Berkvens concluded.