Ethisphere Names illycaffè Among The 2021 World's Most Ethical Companies, Marking Its Ninth Consecutive Honor

Recognition honors companies that understand the importance of leading, making hard but values-based decisions, and demonstrate an overall commitment to integrity.

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Feb 23, 2021, 09:07 ET

NEW YORK, Feb. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- illycaffè S.p.A., a global coffee industry leader in sustainable quality, has been recognized by Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as one of the 2021 World's Most Ethical Companies. This year marks the Company's ninth consecutive honor.

illycaffè regards upholding the highest ethical standards as fundamental to its operations. The Company maintains a longstanding commitment to improving the quality of life for all of its stakeholders, from farmers to consumers. Recognition by Ethisphere as one of the 2021 World's Most Ethical Companies strongly validates the Company's efforts to help create a more sustainable world for many generations to come. illycaffè is the only Italian company to receive this honor and is one of only six recipients in the Food, Beverage & Agriculture category. In total, 135 honorees were recognized spanning 22 countries and 47 industries for 2021.

"Maintaining and promoting strong ethics and values are essential to affecting positive change throughout our global society, as is recognizing the private sector's essential role in creating a world that is more socially, economically and environmentally sustainable now and for generations to come," said Andrea Illy, Chairman of illycaffè S.p.A. "One of our current major focus is reducing our environmental impact throughout the entire supply chain, one meaningful, measurable step at a time, with the ultimate goal to be carbon neutral by 2033. We are proud to be recognized by the Ethisphere Institute for our stewardship and commitment to ethical business practices and thank them for their continued role in inspiring companies to be and do their best for the world."

"While addressing the tough challenges of 2020, we saw companies lead – above all other institutions – on earning the trust of stakeholders through resilience and a commitment to ethics and integrity," said Ethisphere CEO, Timothy Erblich. "The World's Most Ethical Companies honorees continue to demonstrate an unwavering commitment to the highest values and positively impacting the communities they serve. Congratulations to everyone at illycaffè for earning the World's Most Ethical Companies designation."

Methodology & Scoring
Grounded in Ethisphere's proprietary Ethics Quotient®, the World's Most Ethical Companies assessment process includes more than 200 questions on culture, environmental and social practices, ethics and compliance activities, governance, diversity and initiatives to support a strong value chain. The process serves as an operating framework to capture and codify the leading practices of organizations across industries and around the globe.

This year, the process was streamlined and question set expanded to gauge how applicants are adapting and responding to the global health pandemic, environmental, social, and governance factors, safety, equity, and inclusion and social justice.

Honorees
The full list of the 2021 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at https://worldsmostethicalcompanies.com/honorees.

About illycaffè
illycaffè is a family-owned Italian company founded in Trieste in 1933, whose goal from the onset has been to offer the world's best coffee. illycaffè makes a unique 100% Arabica blend that combines 9 of the world's best coffees according to illycaffè. Every day, over 8 million cups of illy coffee are enjoyed worldwide in over 140 countries, in the best coffee bars, restaurants, and hotels, in our illy brand stores, and of course at home. Thanks to its innovations, illy is contributing to technological advancement in the coffee sector. Thanks to its "Ernesto Illy Quality Award for Espresso Coffee", which was established in Brazil in 1991, illy has helped disseminate know-how, achieved higher prices for growers of high-quality illy coffee, and established partnerships on the basis of the principles of sustainable development. The company has also founded its own University of Coffee, with the goal of promoting coffee culture at all levels. The university provided comprehensive and practical training for growers, baristas, and coffee lovers covering all aspects of this product. Anything 'made in illy' is made more valuable through beauty and art, two of the brand's core values, starting with the logo designed by the artist James Rosenquist and encompassing the illy Art Collection cups, decorated by over 100 international artists. In 2019 the company employed 1405 people and had a consolidated turnover of €520.5. There are about 269 single-brand illy stores in over 40 countries worldwide.

About the Ethisphere Institute
The Ethisphere® Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character and measure and improve culture. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World's Most Ethical Companies recognition program and provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA). More information about Ethisphere can be found at: https://ethisphere.com.

SOURCE illy