Page 42 - SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2016

SEA ENVIRONMENT 43
Growing while
respecting the
environment
Respect for the environment is not just
a moral obligation for Costa Cruises,
it is the way forward on the path to
sustainable development in a complex,
rapidly expanding sector like the cruise
industry. The constant focus on reduction
of emissions, optimization of consumption
and protection of public health is the
main distinctive feature of our business
development model and all of these aspects
are part and parcel of our operational
activities.
If we are going to meet our objective of
minimizing our environmental footprint
it is vital to ensure the active involvement
of all the relevant stakeholders – especially
our guests on board the ships, the logistics
chain and local organizations in and
around the ports of call. The growth of
Costa’s productive capacity, refl ected
by the expansion of its fl eet, means that
the Company’s business context is a
dynamic one that is changing all the time.
Maintaining the same level of excellence
in the environmental fi eld depends on
guaranteeing management based on
rigorous standards and procedures which,
in many cases, go beyond regulatory
requirements.
This is the logic underpinning all our exist insofar as waste products are actually
investment plans aimed at implementing resources for subsequent use based on the
solutions that are safe, ecologically idea of cradle to cradle. In recent years,
sustainable and economically viable, this interpretation has gradually become
combining use of the best conventional the model of reference for production,
technologies with alternative systems, trade and consumption in a perspective of
while embracing aspects of ship design, sustainable development, contrasting with
with the awareness that this is the way the ineffi ciencies of the processes of the
forward towards responsible innovation current model of linear economy (produce
for the cruise industry. - use - throw), which is seen as increasingly
costly for businesses, the community and
“Closing the loop” of product life the environment.
cycles
The circular economy is a system in which
all production – i.e. value creation – is
organized so that waste as such does not