In the EcoVadis sustainability audit, HERMA has received a silver medal for the first time in its third year of participation. "This distinction is very important for us, but also for many of our customers," says Marcus Gablowski, Chief Sustainability Officer at HERMA. "EcoVadis is one of the world's largest and most reliable providers of sustainability assessments for companies."

As a leading European specialist in packaging and product labelling, HERMA achieved 17 points more in its current audit than in the previous year, making it one of the top 20 percent of companies rated by EcoVadis in 2022. EcoVadis has now carried out audits at around 100,000 companies worldwide. In terms of content, the EcoVadis audits always focus on the four important sustainability aspects: labor and human rights, the environment, sustainable procurement and ethics. Last year, the six-person interdisciplinary project team at HERMA had to respond in detail to an industry-specific catalogue with around 90 questions.

The EcoVadis audits are therefore highly relevant because they ensure transparency, amongst other things. HERMA's customers, such as large label users from the food, consumer goods or logistics industries, can use EcoVadis' online platform to find out exactly how HERMA performed in the audit and also give feedback or make requests with regard to further sustainable activities. "This actually happens and helps us to further optimise our processes and products," says Marcus Gablowski. "For 2023, we are aiming for the gold medal from EcoVadis to make it into the top group."

HERMA has set itself very ambitious goals, especially in terms of sustainability. In line with its sustainability strategy, the company wants to become completely carbon neutral by 2040, including the entire supply chain and the raw materials and precursors used by HERMA. Since the beginning of 2021, the company has already been manufacturing all of its products at its headquarters in Filderstadt, i.e. self-adhesive materials, labels and labelling machines, without leaving a carbon footprint. Emissions in the company's direct sphere of influence are climate neutral thanks to voluntary carbon offsetting measures.

These are the emissions that are included in Scope 1 and 2 of the internationally recognised "Greenhouse Gas Protocol" and relate, for example, to the use of fossil energy in a company's own plants. At the beginning of 2022, HERMA also joined the world's largest sustainability initiative: the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). In this way, HERMA is committed to demonstrably responsible corporate governance in accordance with the ten defined UNGC principles and the sustainable development targets, the so-called Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).