Armour Valve’s Journey Towards a Sustainable Future: An Update on Our Social Purpose Commitments

At Armour Valve, our journey over the past five decades has been steered by a desire to be a responsible employer, supplier, and business. Our purpose is to transform infrastructure for a healthy, thriving planet. Living our purpose means ensuring that what we sell and do as a business sustains our planet so that people can thrive. Every member of our team at Armour Valve is dedicated to creating healthy communities where humans and infrastructure coexist and flourish. Our purpose statement reflects our commitment to providing top-quality valves, specialty equipment, and solutions that help to protect the health and safety of workers and meet energy and industrial needs in a resilient, sustainable way, thereby enabling our clients to make a positive impact on the environment and society. Furthermore, we are committed to remaining transparent and becoming a model for sustainable and equitable business practices.

Our Purpose Statement:

“We exist to transform infrastructure for a healthy, thriving planet.”

As we celebrate over half a century of operation and our social purpose statement release last year, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on our journey, achievements, and the road ahead.

Read more about the sustainability initiatives Armour Valve is committed to and the goals we have for our future below.

Helping Our Clients to Better Serve Our Communities

Our customers include a wide range of industrial facilities, producers, and distributors of energy. They all transform resources into useful products for other sectors and for society, which relies on them and increasingly demands more sustainable operations. Our product portfolio, includes products that meet or exceed current industry standards and regulations. Some of these products includes:

• Conval – Conval supplies the industry’s most rugged, in-line repairable valves with the lowest lifecycle cost.
• VRG Controls – All Valve Pilot Control instrumentation features zero emissions capabilities as part of its design.
• Flow Control Industries – The DeltaPValve® enhances system stability, reducing energy consumption in heating and cooling by 20-40%,
• Hora – HORA automatic recirculation valves are in-line serviceable, reducing maintenance time and extending the lifecycle of centrifugal pumps.
• BRUGG Pipe Systems – CASAFLEX enables quicker and more cost-effective installation compared to rigid pipes, thanks to BRUGG’s connection technology that eliminates welding and expansion loops, and simplifies the laying process.

At Armour Valve, we strive to lead the way, providing guidance to our clients as they embark on their journey towards increased environmental responsibility while assisting them in surpassing regulatory or legislative goals.

How Armour Valve Is Contributing to Sustainable Development

In 2022, we worked with the leaders and fellow participants from the United Way BC Social Purpose Institute Innovators Program to create our purpose statement and communicate it to the public. The Social Purpose Institute (SPI) Innovator’s program provided our team with the tools and insights needed to embrace a Social Purpose and embed it into the core of our business model.

We have also participated in initiatives like Family Enterprise Canada’s (FEC’s) Family Business for Sustainable Development (FBSD) committee, which is chaired by our President, Elizabeth McBeth.

Dedicated to minimizing our overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, our aim is to reach net-zero emissions by 2040, starting from a baseline year of 2022 when our total emissions were 628.37 tons of CO2e. Currently, our team is in the process of accounting for 2023 emissions, after which we will set interim reduction targets for 2030 and 2035. As of January 2024, we have also successfully achieved the preliminary requirements for Canada’s Net-Zero Challenge.

How We’re Embracing Sustainability at Our New Office Location

Armour Valve recently relocated to 2-5240 Finch Ave E, in Toronto, Ontario. With our new headquarters location, we have taken inspiration from the UN’s sustainable development goal 9.4, which aspires to upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to enhance sustainability and adopt clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes by 2030. Our relocation offered the opportunity to implement upgrades such as: LED lighting, touchless faucets, and electric forklifts for improved efficiency and modernization.

When complete, our living wall will be adorned with a diverse array of plant species thriving under abundant natural light to serve as a daily reminder of the importance of our planet and nature. Going beyond aesthetics, each planter, is equipped with a self-watering system, contributing to its low-maintenance charm.

Harnessing the collective creativity of our dedicated team, we are designing a space that mirrors our commitment to our purpose, prominently displaying our purpose statement in the entryway. In line with our dedication to eco-friendly practices, we will also be repurposing discontinued inventory to create a sculpture that symbolizes how nature and industry must exist in balance.

New Hires & Roles at Armour Valve

Armour Valve recently incorporated new positions to bolster our sustainability reporting and community engagement. Our new Financial and Sustainability Accounting Technician, Bahareh Sakhaei, will help to measure our impact and create a sustainability report to maintain transparency. Additionally, Jennifer Price is our Community Manager and will assist with managing our messaging to the broader community.  Furthermore, Herman Chan will head our health, safety, and environment (HSE) initiatives, contributing to the creation of a workplace that lives out our purpose. This involves streamlining processes, reducing waste, and thoroughly assessing our work environment for improved efficiency.

Upholding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We pride ourselves on being a model for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). Our DEIB performance is not just a metric but a reflection of our belief in creating a workplace where every individual is valued, respected, and has an opportunity to thrive. Armour Valve fosters an inclusive and balanced work environment, embracing all forms of diversity. Our team consists of 40% BIPOC employees and 30% New Canadians, reflecting the diversity of Canadian society.

Future Sustainability Goals

Armour Valve is dedicated to living our purpose by working towards specific goals that support our efforts in sustainability. As we embed our purpose into our business model, strategy, and processes, a zero-waste environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) framework will inform our decisions. Armour Valve is steadfastly committed to maintaining transparency about our endeavors, sharing our progress, and revealing the impact we generate in our sustainability journey. Below are some of our goals for the future related to sustainability and our purpose statement:

• Develop, and implement emissions reduction plans to meet our net zero 2040 target while implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) KPIs tied to executive performance.
• Publish our Impact Report on our website and create a dedicated webpage for communicating our purpose and sustainability endeavors.
• Actively seek out and collaborate with customers and suppliers developing sustainable infrastructure solutions.
• Support underserved youth in our community to pursue their ambitions through paid internships and mentorship.

Towards a Thriving Future

As we navigate through our sustainability journey, we remain committed to our Social Purpose. We will reflect on how our future goals, current initiatives, operations, strategies, and processes can advance our goal of transforming infrastructure for a healthy, thriving planet. We are grateful to our team, partners, and customers who have been pivotal in our journey.

To learn more about our commitments and or address any questions you may have concerning our sustainability journey we encourage you to connect with our Community Manager Jennifer Price. Your insights and suggestions are also warmly welcomed.