Despite tougher criteria in part, HERMA was once again able to obtain a silver medal in the EcoVadis sustainability audit. In relative terms, HERMA has improved quite significantly: While HERMA was among the best 20 percent of the companies audited by EcoVadis last time, it has now even managed to jump into the best 12 percent. Companies must be among the top 15 percent for the first time to win a silver medal. The threshold was previously 25 percent. EcoVadis is one of the world's leading providers of sustainability audits. Around 125,000 companies have now had an audit carried out there. "We are very satisfied with our results, especially as we achieved a further seven points more than in the previous year," says Elise Keuler from the HERMA sustainability management team. "An important measure in this respect was undoubtedly our accession to the Science Based Target Initiative a year ago and the associated determination of defined goals." By participating in the globally active SBTi, companies are committed to taking voluntary measures that are actually necessary to limit the further increase in climate warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100. For HERMA this means: By 2030, the company that specialises in packaging and labelling technology, plans to reduce its own CO2 emissions by more than 42 percent (compared to 2021). Irrespective of the SBTi, net zero emissions should then be achieved by 2040, also taking into account indirect emissions and compensating for unavoidable emissions.
Publication of the first sustainability report
HERMA will now provide transparent, detailed and regular information on how it intends to achieve these goals and on the progress that has already been made and is being targeted in general in terms of sustainability: The company has now presented its first sustainability report. It relates to the 2022 financial year; work on the 2023 sustainability report is already underway. This edition was prepared with reference to the internationally applicable standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). "The climate protection measures form an important part of the report, such as the planned electrification with green electricity and consequently the replacement of all fossil fuels by 2040," emphasises Marcus Gablowski, Chief Sustainable Officer at HERMA. "But over and above this, the report provides comprehensive information on sustainability at HERMA. This includes, for example, our handling of residual materials in production, the use of recycled materials, but also occupational health and safety, the training and further education of employees, health at the workplace or the criteria for selecting our suppliers." The 50-page sustainability report is now available at www.herma.com/company/profile/sustainability.
