• Spain’s leading pork exporter has sealed its commitment to the 2030 Agenda via sustainable and responsible growth, highlighting its model of circular economy.
• With over 100 years of history behind it, Grupo Jorge is the first Aragonese business to earn this recognition for AENOR’s good sustainability practice

7th November. Grupo Jorge has acquired AENOR’s Certificate of Sustainability and Contribution to SDG, which falls within its goal of offering Spanish porcine animal protein in a responsible and sustainable manner, highlighting the model of circular economy implemented at every step of the production phases in the re-use of resources, and promoting a policy of industrial symbiosis well removed from the traditional model, reducing the consumption of finite resources.

In this way, the company assumes its responsibility to work towards the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, as promoted by the United Nations, and commits itself as a priority to activate plans which are in line with 7 of the 17 Sustainable Goals: zero hunger; gender equality; clean water and drainage; readily available non-polluting energy; decent jobs and economic growth; responsible production and consumption; and action on the climate.

AENOR has developed a certification model which helps businesses to analyse and verify their contribution to their sustainability strategies and whose objective is to cover all salient aspects, generating confidence in third parties and distinguishing the business’s contribution to the SDG. Similarly, the Aragonese company – in order to develop its plans - has put the spotlight on water consumption and waste control, energy consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions, waste management and circular economy, animal welfare, environmental compliance, biosecurity, responsible use of antibiotics, quality of product and food security, customer satisfaction and safety, ‘Food Defense’, R+D+i and slurry management. The actions undertaken by Grupo Jorge, which also operates in the energy and forestry sectors, will benefit their value chain.

The award ceremony for this acknowledgement took place in the company’s Zaragoza HQ, where Nicolás Henríquez, Sales Director at AENOR, presented the award to Olga Samper, Grupo Jorge's CSR Director. And so, with almost 100 years of history, and leader in Spanish pork exports, Grupo Jorge has become the first Aragonese company to gain this acknowledgement for good practice in AENOR’s drive to sustainability.

Nicolás Henríquez says “AENOR wants to participate in building the road to sustainability. For this reason, we have created a model of certification which encourages business action towards the United nation’s SDGs.  In this regard, Grupo Jorge is one of the most important meat groups in the whole of Europe, with almost 100 years of history, and almost 5,000 employees; a plural, vertical company and a business undertaking based on sustainable development and responsible management of the environment. Now, having wished to take this step forward in its social responsibility, it certifies its commitment to the 2030 Agenda. Furthermore, this certificate will make this Aragonese company’s sustainability management much more visible, and will allow it to say to its public that its operations are carried out in an efficient, transparent and responsible manner”.

Since 2015, the United Nations Organisation has put forward the idea of developing an ambitious frame of reference: Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). To this end, this organism considers businesses to be a key agent for the achievement of the SDGs. The Sustainability Certificate, together with the commitment to AENOR’s SDGs brings with it the endorsement that a company’s strategy, in this case that of Grupo Jorge, can incorporate sustainability and is in line with the SDGs which are relevant to its business core

About AENOR (Asociación Española de Normalización y Certificación)

AENOR is Spain’s leading certification body. It identifies and helps to correct breaches in competitiveness in companies, business sectors, and in the general economic fabric, contributing to the transformation of society, creating confidence in organisations and people.  As a global company, it operates in 87 countries in activities of certification, verification, validation, inspection, analysis, training and information services. Currently, over 87,000 work centres possess at least one AENOR certificate, in fields such as Quality Management, Sustainability, Security and Health at Work, Digitalisation,   Animal Welfare, Verification of Non-financial and Compliance Information .

About Grupo Jorge

Grupo Jorge is currently one of the main pork producers and exporters in Spain, with business in over 100 countries throughout the world. With complete control over each step that makes up its production chain, recently it has also diversified into agriculture and renewable energies. Its commitment to the environment in which it operates has led to its creating initiatives such as Feeding the Future, from where it works towards a sustainable and responsible business model in social, environmental and government areas.