"We have a moral obligation to take action"

We spoke to Francesco Scotto from Zarattini International about rolling out sustainability efforts at work, and how, when it comes to combating climate change, personal commitment matters more than size. 

Zarattini International has built a reputation for doing things differently. Part of the Swiss financial group with a presence in Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Malta, it offers its clients best in class protection for their assets with industry-leading technology. 

When it comes to sustainability, Zarattini’s approach has been set by their enthusiastic CEO, Francesco Scotto, with the help of a group of young, passionate employees who are bringing new ideas to the business - “there is much more attention and passion around the topic of sustainability than with the older generation - that’s just the reality”, explains Scotto.

With previous roles at larger firms including JP Morgan and BNP, Scotto appears to enjoy the pace of change in a smaller outfit like Zarattini, and that he can see the impact with his own eyes - “a company of 10 may not seem like it’s going to change the world, but if you take 1,000 companies of 10 employees, that’s huge”. And while the business is not yet legally obligated to take climate action, Scotto firmly believes that they not only have a moral obligation to do so, but that acting now will place them in a much stronger position long-term.

Since 2019, Zarattini have been making small but impactful changes to the way they work, starting with the lower hanging fruit - banning single use plastics, promoting hybrid working where possible “there used to be 10 cars on the road commuting to work everyday, now there are five” and switching to e-signatures instead of couriering contracts around the globe. But when it came to business travel, there was little transparency, which made measuring an impossible task.

Goodwings has provided the “missing piece” to Zarattini’s sustainability puzzle, allowing them to measure and reduce one of the company’s biggest emissions sources - business travel. “Using Goodwings is the only way we can know how much we are polluting, and actually decarbonize those trips in an affordable way”.

It is also helping them with their bottom line. In the financial sector, everything needs to “add up” - yes, sustainability initiatives are important, but they also need to be financially viable. 

For now, Scotto has set his sights on scaling Goodwings at a group level so that they can continue to improve their impact when it comes to business travel. We look forward to following this impact journey as it unfolds. 

You can read more about Zarattini International here