Contribution to Sustainable Development Goals

GF produces high-quality systems and solutions for the safe and hygienic transportation of water. This is particularly relevant in preventing the risk of legionella, which reproduce when water does not circulate or when the temperature is incorrect. GF Piping Systems’ Hycleen Automation System ensures a permanent hydraulic balance across all the pipes and guarantees bacteria-free drinking water.

In 2018, GF celebrated 100 years of vocational training in Switzerland. In 2019, the apprenticeship model was extended to the US, while 446 young apprentices were trained worldwide.

In several countries, collaborations with universities are in place, whereby students complete their diploma work while working on concrete projects at GF.

In 2019, 72% of GF’s workforce attended various training programs, where on average, each GF employee received 2.1 days of training.

Large volumes of drinking water are currently lost or contaminated around the world due to poor infrastructure. The products of GF Piping Systems help to ensure leak-free delivery of drinking water. One of its latest projects in São Paulo , (Brazil) helps the city to save 75 billion liters of water annually by replacing 760 kilometers of piping network.

In 2019, GF, its employees, and partners raised CHF 500’000 through the “Walk for Water” to support clean drinking water projects worldwide.

GF works towards improving the global energy efficiency. On the one hand by increasing the energy efficiency in its own operations (by 10% until 2020) and on the other hand, by developing features to reduce the energy consumption of the products.

GF Machining Solutions’ EDM¹ machines contain a new spark generator that reduces energy consumption by over 30% at the same performance levels.

Considering workplace safety as a fundamental requirement to be observed at GF’s operations, since 2015, GF runs a corporate-wide Zero Risk Campaign. As of the end of 2019, its ongoing efforts contributed to a 30% reduction in the accident rate since the 2013–2015 baseline.

GF continuously invests in R&D to create innovative new products and solutions that provide social and/or environmental benefits for customers during the product’s usage. Addressing the sustainability issues along the product’s value chain is on the agenda of all three divisions of GF.

Among others, GF Casting Solutions focuses on lightweight components for the aerospace and energy sector and GF Machining Solutions offers solutions to increase the energy efficiency of high-precision machines.

The core expertise and focus of GF Casting Solutions is the design and manufacturing of lightweight components for the automotive and aerospace sectors. As such, GF directly contributes to developing of alternative drive mobility and reducing the weight of vehicles with the aim to reduce CO₂ and other air emissions.

The efficient use of natural resources has been actively managed by GF since 1997, when the company also published its first environmental report. Since then, the scope of its sustainability program was extended to the Sustainability Targets 2020 and forms the basis of the current sustainability-related activities.

GF offers a wide range of products and solutions that enable its customers and/or end consumers to reduce their energy consumption and therefore CO₂ emissions during the products use. In GF’s own operations, it aims to decrease the CO₂ intensity, with the current target set at a 10% reduction until the end of 2020.

GF obtained a B score in the annual CDP rating on climate action².

GF is a signatory of the UN Global Compact and an active participant of the Network of Switzerland’s working group “Sustainable Supply Chains”.