Setting a course for a circular future, with the SDGs
Focus on a liveable world
In 2020, only one topic was occasionally able to exceed the sad state of affairs surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic: our climate. At ARN, we have long been aware of the crucial role played by circularity in reducing the effects of global warming. We have to take care of our planet. And the Dutch car-recycling chain is certainly playing its part.
For several years now, in the ARN Sustainability Report we have been reporting about the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The frameworks these SDGs represent enable organisations and institutions to help in their own way to reduce poverty and inequality and mitigate climate change. Five of these SDGs play a key role in ARN’s policy:
- Sustainable consumption and production patterns
- Sustainable and affordable energy
- Sustainable and inclusive economic growth and decent employment
- Partnerships in achieving the goals
- Innovation and resilient infrastructure
We believe that reusing things – which in our case means both raw materials and parts of dismantled cars – is a key factor in ensuring that our planet will still be liveable for decades to come. The five SDGs that we have selected will help us make the right choices in the pursuit of high-value and responsible car recycling in the Netherlands. The SDGs contain tangible and manageable key concepts, such as economic growth, inclusion, sustainable consumption and production patterns, renewable energy and the concept of partnership. The SDG frameworks help us at ARN to facilitate the car recycling sector, as well as stimulate and accelerate innovation.
With every important choice that we face, we ask ourselves how the Dutch car-recycling chain can best contribute to the greater goal behind all the SDGs, i.e. sustainable development towards a world that is more liveable for everyone. Are we following the right course, or do we need to recalibrate it?
This is how we are striving for the best-possible “key data”, as you can find elsewhere in this Sustainability Report. Wherever possible, we do it a little better every year, and wherever necessary we make adjustments that are based on the latest technological and scientific insights. For example, we no longer only work according to the highest-possible recycling percentage for cars. Our processes capitalise on and exploit the specific knowledge and skills required for the dismantling of electric and hybrid vehicles. And even more so than we were in the past, we are mindful of the carbon footprint imposed by all the ARN chain partners. In 2020 the chain saved nearly 215,000 tonnes of CO2.
With the SDGs as a guideline, we are adding both substance and direction to our own performance. We see it as a fulfilling and valuable role that, in collaboration with our automotive-industry partners, is bringing us ever closer to the fully recyclable car!
ARN’s mission
Together with our partners, we are striving to achieve responsible and high-value car recycling.
ARN’s vision
At ARN, we believe that car recycling contributes to the circular economy, in which damage to the natural or living environment is avoided. What is not possible today, will be possible tomorrow.