The Krones Group was awarded a gold medal in the latest round of the EcoVadis sustainability rating, scoring 72 out of 100, an increase of 11 points. The company says this puts it in the top five per cent of all companies rated in its sector.
“That’s solid recognition of our work and an important signal to all stakeholders: Our ESG performance is getting ever closer to reaching our ambitious sustainability aspirations and goals,” said Peter Steger, head of corporate sustainability, pointing out that the technology group was also awarded the silver medal twice in succession during previous awards.
Krones says it embarked on its path towards making operational and value-creation processes more sustainable decades ago. However, 2010 was the year it “moved up a gear” with the launch of its programme for developing energy- and media-efficient machines, and with its first CSR report which had been published a few years earlier.
The group says its recent gold medal reflects its steadily optimised processes and measures, its reporting scheme modelled on the GRI reporting standards, and the groupwide governance of its efforts to meet ESG criteria. “Anyone who is serious about sustainability must include all the entities of a conglomerate. The high complexity of our group has been a real challenge right from the start,” said Steger. “That’s why we joined forces with all ESG-relevant specialist departments and international coordinators. In the last few years, every one of us has been working hard to put in place a uniform set of standards, requirements and monitoring processes which is valid throughout the group.
The EcoVadis rating is divided into four keynote issues: environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. Krones achieved the greatest improvement over the preceding year in the areas of labour and human rights and ethics, rising from 60 to 80 points.
