ENVIRONMENT

We promote sustainable forest management through responsible forestry practices.

Every year, OLOT MEATS GROUP carries out sustainable forest management initiatives in a forest in Catalonia, addressing the global challenges of the environmental crisis through a pioneering initiative within Spain’s meat industry.

To achieve this, the Group has established a collaboration agreement with the Consorci Forestal de Catalunya (CFC), which represents the majority of Catalonia’s private forest owners, and the Cooperativa Forestal. Collaboration between public and private organisations is becoming increasingly important across Europe, particularly in projects focused on sustainability and climate action. Within this framework, the partners are implementing a Forest Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Project (PROMACC).

This initiative is part of a pilot programme within the European LIFE CLIMARK project, which aims to promote multifunctional forest management through climate credits. These credits will become part of a future voluntary local carbon and energy compensation market, helping to preserve forests, increase carbon sequestration, and support the fight against climate change.

Forests are undergoing a process of expansion and transformation driven by profound socio-economic changes in rural areas since the mid-20th century, as well as by the increasing impacts of climate change. Sustainable forest management is the key to ensuring that forestry activities deliver environmental, social, and economic benefits while safeguarding the long-term health, resilience, and productivity of forests.

Through this initiative, OLOT MEATS GROUP is committed to addressing the following key challenges:

• COMBATING THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY
• INCREASING CO₂ SEQUESTRATION
• PREVENTING WILDFIRES
• PRESERVING BIODIVERSITY
• OPTIMISING WATER RESOURCES

In the forests where we operate, forestry management activities are carried out to regulate competition for water resources, thereby improving the vitality and resilience of forest stands through sustainable forest management practices. These interventions are also designed to protect and enhance biodiversity by preserving habitat trees with cavities, standing deadwood, fallen trees, and other key natural features that support wildlife and strengthen the forest’s ecological value.

Aware of the environmental impact of our activities—and of the increasing frequency of droughts—OLOT MEATS GROUP has made a strong commitment to the sustainable management of water resources through responsible forest management and biomass reduction. Excessive forest density is one of the factors that limits the amount of water reaching rivers, reservoirs, and aquifers. For this reason, our forestry interventions are focused on restoring blue water—the portion of rainfall that is not consumed by vegetation and therefore does not return to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration, but instead flows across the land or infiltrates the soil, replenishing rivers, reservoirs, and groundwater resources.