KHS has earned gold status in the EcoVadis rating system for the first time. Compared to the last audit from 2022, the German systems supplier to the beverage and liquid food industries has improved by 12 points to 71 out of a possible total of 100. According to EcoVadis, KHS has made significant progress in all assessed categories.
Since 2012 KHS has taken part in the annual audit run by the internationally recognised certification platform for sustainability achievements. To date, EcoVadis has awarded KHS with seven silver and two bronze accolades. “With our first gold medal EcoVadis has honoured the KHS Group’s ever-growing commitment and certified our well-functioning system of sustainability management,” said Kai Acker, CEO of KHS GmbH. “The much-improved rating result is a clear manifestation of the continuous steps we’ve been taking in this field for many years now. We’ll be continuing to consistently pursue this policy with the aim of reaching net zero by 2045.”
The company says the allocation of this higher award is all the more noteworthy considering that since the signing of the European Green Deal in December 2019 and thus the growing significance of the rating in the context of ESG1, EcoVadis has considerably broadened its assessment criteria.
KHS convincing in sector comparison
EcoVadis assesses the sustainability achievements of companies based on the four central criteria of environment, ethics, sustainable procurement and labour law/human rights. In all areas, KHS has made considerable improvements over the previous year. The manufacturer’s largest gain was in the sustainable procurement category, where it went up 20 points on the scoring system. KHS also bettered last year’s results by ten respective points in the environment, labour law/human rights and ethics sections. “Through various targeted measures we’ve been able to prove that we turn important requirements into processes, thus making these fixed parameters in a system of practiced sustainability,” said Acker.
According to the EcoVadis rating, KHS is among the top two per cent of manufacturers of general machinery. In the environment and sustainable procurement categories in particular the KHS is above average for the industry. “Our positive rating sends an important signal to our customers and helps us to provide a credible response to the growing interest in sustainability assessments from the financial market. Our sustainability achievements demonstrate that we’re a reliable, future-proof partner,” Acker said.
EcoVadis: Internationally recognised sustainability certificates
EcoVadis claims to be one of the world’s key platforms for the assessment of corporate sustainability achievements. The organisation was founded in Paris back in 2007. Its stated aim is to provide interested parties from various sectors and markets with a reliable summary of the quality of management systems and the associated risk management setup of companies in the supply chain. The EcoVadis database currently contains more than 115,000 assessed companies from 175 countries and 200 different sectors.
