Bogdanka’s Sustainable Development
Sustainable development is about achieving synergy between business operation and the world around us: the community and the natural environment.
One of Bogdanka’s objectives is to invest in social and economic development while mitigating our impact on the environment. Bogdanka’s actions prove that it is possible to operate an environmentally-conscious coal mine, which does not claim that climate change is a myth. The Company strives to base its business and transition objectives on smart use of natural resources and to reduce its environmental footprint.
Guided by these targets, we implement circular economy and continually analyze new possibilities to use resources rationally and recover them for re-use, which, among others, is the rationale of our investment in a state-of-the-art water treatment plant, retention reservoirs and a photovoltaic farm. Bogdanka also operates the most modern, low-emission process machinery and automation, such as the Internet of Things (IOT), used in coal mining for the first time ever, and supporting the rationalization of materials consumption and equipment utilization.
Bogdanka’s strategy takes account of revenue diversification aimed at retaining jobs.
Our role as one of the most important employers in the Lublin Region, which is predominantly characterized by farming and relatively small industry, calls for responsible management of just transition and long-term planning. In this aspect, our sustainable development projects include educational activities,
support of entrepreneurship, activization and leveling out of opportunities - all pursued with respect for the environment and mankind, based on the resources that we use and manage as an employer and an economic pillar of the Lubelskie Voivodeship.
These actions were addressed by our Social Responsibility Strategy, which in 2022 turned into the ESG strategy, so that it is ever better poised to encompass the various aspects of the Company’s functioning.
One of the objectives of our CSR strategy was to stimulate the Region’s development based on multi-industry cooperation - every project was executed by a solid partnership, thus achieving greater effectiveness and positive impacts. We have developed good cooperation with non-governmental organizations, including those advocating for the environment, proving that such collaboration is possible when all the actors are guided by one overarching objective, i.e. protection of the environment, with the view to leave it friendly for the generations to come.
We also focused on socially disadvantaged groups or groups at the risk of social exclusion, creating social programs that reached out to the target inhabitants of the Lubelskie Voivodship.
Our employees took part in these community-targeted activities, under the “Bogdanka Socially Committed” project. We believe that this strategic approach to sustainable development is effective and lets Bogdanka stand out among its peer enterprises.
Sustainable development means that the ESG (environmental, social, governance) aspects are incorporated into the Company’s business strategy.
Today no business - and especially a mining business - can operate without taking into account the environmental or social aspects of its activities. In the business context, LW Bogdanka’s Development Strategy envisages that its operations be conducted in an environmentally friendly manner (a Green Mine), which is reflected in particular in:
- sustainable utilization of spoil tips
- actions for the benefit of climate and ecology
- development of mine waste utilization technology
- support for the local natural habitat
- just transition of mining areas
The fundament of the Company’s management is transparency and responsibility. Our value creation model is based on analyzing six capitals:
- financial
- production (operational)
- human
- intellectual
- social
- natural
and their correlation with the company's strategic goals.
The objectives and capitals intersect and are integrally accompanied by the ongoing dialogue with the stakeholders - the Company’s shareholders, customers, employees and the local community.
Environmental protection and concern for ecological aspects of operations are among the most important elements of LW Bogdanka Group’s sustainable development.
Bogdanka is a hard coal mine, the only one in Poland located outside of Upper Silesia and the only one engaged in coal mining production in Lubelskie Zagłębie Węglowe (Lublin Mining Area, LZW). Besides the presence of coal deposits, LZW is also a region of diverse and outstanding natural, landscape and cultural beauty.
The Company operates in the area characterized by high biological diversity. The mine itself, as well as its entire infrastructure and the mining areas of “Puchaczów V”, “Stręczyn”, and “Ludwin” are surrounded by protected areas. Bogdanka’s mining fields: Nadrybie and Stefanów are neighboring on the following important natural areas:
- Nature 2000: Jeziora Uściwierskie PLH-06009;
- Nature 2000: Polesie PLB-060019;
- Pojezierze Łęczyńskie (Łęczyńskie Lake District) Landscape Park;
- Polesie Area of Protected Landscape;
- Chełm Area of Protected Landscape, which via the Świnka River valley connects to the Wieprza River Landscape Park,
located west of the mining areas.
Polesie National Park and the International Biosphere Reserve - Western Polesie (including stretches of the Polesie National Park) are also situated in the close neighborhood of the mining fields.