Gestión Ambiental

Environmental Management Program

CAC (Consorcio Azucarero Central, SA) has been implementing the Entity´s Environmental Management Program as an instrument for planning and continuous improvement, which guarantees the safety of personnel and the protection of the Environment, while increasing productivity, quality, and competitiveness.

It is proposed to link the Environmental Management Program to the Occupational Health program and in the future to the Quality program.

Objectives

Strengthen the Environmental Policy, its objectives, goals, and environmental strategies towards sustainable development.

Collaborate with our strategic partners and the Ministry of the Environment to satisfy the requirements of the Dominican Government for sustainable development in sugar mills.

Establish short, medium, and long-term environmental strategies for environmental performance, making sure to balance the costs and benefits for the A.C. S. A., society and the environment.

Develop a comprehensive environmental management program that incorporates the environmental needs of the sugar mill, supported by the design of a System of Environmental Indicators for the region.

Components

The following components are considered as a system requirement:

Define an Environmental Policy, in which we express our commitments based on State guidelines for proper management of the environment and sustainable use of natural resources. The establishment of the policy defines broad and clear goals, which the company has decided to meet in the environmental area, considering the Ministry of the Environment as a strategic partner of the company.

Design an Action Plan or Environmental Program, which determines the management measures that the company will take to mitigate control and compensate for the impacts that they may generate on the environment during the harvest. The Environmental Management Program translates the company’s environmental policies into goals and objectives and identifies the activities to achieve it, defines the responsibilities of the tasks and commits the necessary human and financial resources for their implementation.

Establish effective communication with the community to publicize environmental goals and performance about specific issues, difficulties and risks that may affect them.

Verify that the program also conducts a review of the organization’s environmental issues, its legal and regulatory requirements for compliance with the Law and contains a comprehensive and coherent environmental organizational structure, where assignments of tasks, responsibilities and authorities are established. From the Environmental Impact Study of the Sugar Mill, a System of Environmental Indicators will be designed for its characteristics, which will serve as the basis for the corresponding analysis.

Integrate the Environmental Management Program in the organic and functional structures of the company, which must include the establishment of procedures to incorporate the environmental measures in the operational part of the Ingenio Azucarero, such as: occupational health program, production, marketing and commercialization, finance and investment, taxes and remuneration rates. The development of specific environmental procedures is required

Assess risks and emergency contingency plans to identify potential accidents and prevent them from turning into catastrophes. It is necessary to determine the fastest and most efficient communication measures, in case of eventuality, to have the appropriate equipment and personnel to respond to the accident. Corrective and preventive actions to eliminate the causes of real and potential nonconformities of the structure and functionality of the environmental management measures established in the operational, administrative, and commercial process of the Consorcio.

Report within the entity and train staff to ensure that all employees understand why and how to fulfill their environmental responsibilities within the context of work activities.

Carry out Environmental audits to verify the adequacy and effectiveness of the Environmental Management Program incorporated by the Ingenio Azucarero.

Update and make constant improvements to the Environmental Management Program, an activity that must be carried out by the Management and Board of Directors of the mill.