More than 40 Leather Cluster Barcelona members took part and 11 companies reached finisher status in the project

After six months of work, the closing session of the Training in Shared Value for Corporate Sustainability project was held, promoted and funded by ACCIÓ and coordinated by the specialist R4S Group. Roots for Sustainability (R4S) is a positive impact agency that designs, implements and evaluates transformation projects for companies, non-profit organisations and governments in the fields of organisational sustainability and inclusive business.

Shared value is defined as the set of policies and practices that improve the competitiveness of companies while at the same time improving social and environmental conditions in the regions where they operate. ACCIÓ promotes the generation of shared value across the Catalan business fabric as a cornerstone of competitiveness improvement. It is a pioneering initiative, which is why this project has been 100% funded by ACCIÓ.

The project as a whole, which began in November last year, sought to meet three main objectives: to reflect on shared value as a strategic element; to identify and prioritise market opportunities for generating shared value; and to train the cluster’s members in measuring the social and environmental results of their organisation, as well as in the subsequent identification of areas for improvement.

At this closing session held at the Adoberia Bella, headquarters of Leather Cluster Barcelona, the main conclusions and learnings obtained by the companies in this shared value project were set out, and the collective initiatives with potential for implementation were also presented.

The companies that have completed the B Impact Assessment tool shared their experience, and a space for discussion was opened with a view to shaping new improvement initiatives.

The company that coordinated this shared value project, Roots for Sustainability (R4S), expressed great satisfaction with all the work carried out over these months.

In this respect, R4S Group thanked the members of Leather Cluster Barcelona for their strong participation and involvement in it. More than 40 member companies of the cluster took part in the project and 11 of them became finishers, making it one of the clusters with the highest participation and the largest number of finisher companies (companies that have completed the B Impact Assessment tool).

Leather Cluster Barcelona is an environment of competitive cooperation for promoting cross-cutting and transformative strategic projects with the aim of driving forward the ecosystem of the Catalan leather sector within the framework of Shared Value policies. The cluster is an accredited body within the Catalonia Clusters programme and has the support of Acció.