Gold EcoVadis Sustainability Award for Arburg

With its recent Gold Medal from EcoVadis and 73 points, Arburg has made it into the top five per cent of the world’s most sustainable industrial companies. EcoVadis is a comprehensive sustainability rating platform for global supply chains.

In addition to environmental impact and sustainable procurement, the focus is also on ethics, labour, and human rights. The Ecovadis rankings consider the data and supply chains of more than 100,000 companies.

In 2023, the points system was made even more stringent to achieve the respective Medal levels. So Arburg is even more pleased to have its sustainability activities as part of “arburgGREENworld” recognised with a Gold Medal – especially as stakeholders, customers, potential employees and suppliers are becoming increasingly aware of the issue of sustainability.

“As a grassroots family business, it has always been the case for Arburg that regions, family and people are important aspects of our brand promise ‘Wir sind da’ (We are here for you)”, says Gerhard Böhm, Arburg Managing Director Sales and After Sales, describing the attitude of the globally active injection moulding machine manufacturer. “We don’t compromise on this: we have a firm commitment not only to technological excellence but also to the environment and the concerns of all our stakeholders.”

Sustainable action has always been embedded in Arburg’s corporate DNA, which is reflected today in the fundamental decision made decades ago to produce centrally with short, flexible and transparent supply chains. 72 per cent of supplies come from Germany and 66 per cent of them from Baden-Württemberg.

But not only ecological aspects play a role in forward-thinking supply chain management. This year, Arburg hosted the Partner Summit in Lossburg to mark “100 years of the Hehl family company”. This anniversary event was not only Arburg’s special way of thanking its long-standing partners – at the same time, about 450 participants were made aware of the growing importance of sustainable, transparent and socially responsible supply chains and Arburg’s extensive activities in this area.

A pioneer in topics of the future – now awarded a Gold Medal for its sustainability program

In the plastics industry, Arburg has already been a pioneer in sustainability for decades, and since 2019 all its activities have been brought together in the “arburgGREENworld” program. The program is no longer restricted to strategies on resource efficiency and circular economy, but also now takes an integrated view of sustainability through its own ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) strategy.

“Our goal is to always keep in mind how we as a company can act in a more climate-friendly, social and responsible way,” says Samira Uharek, Sustainability Manager at Arburg, in summary. Taking all three topics into consideration pays off, as confirmed by Arburg’s above-average performance in the “Ethics”, “Sustainable Procurement”, and “Environment” categories in the EcoVadis industry comparison and its overall Gold Medal rating.

Clear disassociation from greenwashing

Arburg uses quantifiable measures to distance itself from greenwashing. It sets its own high targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, for example, and has recently made the targets validated by the SBTI (Science Based Targets Initiative) an Arburg standard. “We plan to be compliant with the ‘1.5 degree Celsius target’ in Scopes 1 and 2,” explains Gerhard Böhm. “To achieve this, we will reduce our CO2 emissions in those areas by 42 per cent by 2030 compared to 2021. For Scope 3, we are aiming for what is known as a ‘sub-2 degree Celsius’ target, where the reduction in the same period is 25 per cent.”

• Scope 1 includes all direct greenhouse gas emissions, such as primary energy sources consumed in corporate real estate.
• Scope 2 includes indirect emissions resulting from the generation of the procured energy.
• Scope 3 includes other indirect emissions that are primarily associated with the company’s activities, e.g. due to purchased materials.

The operation of injection moulding machines at our customers’ sites is also accounted for in Scope 3. This is because the operating phase of the machine causes 95 per cent of the CO2 emissions and thus represents the greatest lever for reducing these along the value chain. Therefore, Arburg’s “Action Plan Energy” involves working with our customers on efficient, sustainable and energy-optimised production processes to save even more CO2 together.”

On the way to “greenest” machine manufacturer

Arburg sees its Gold Medal as a clear and sustainable confirmation that it is steering the correct course into the future. “We, therefore, take a positive view of new legal requirements for European companies, such as the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) and other challenges,” says Böhm, explaining the principle of success: “We have recognized that sustainability means past, present and future for Arburg and sustainability, like our company, is in constant change. We still value our location, resources, employees and stakeholders as much today as we did when the company was founded and are well prepared with this commitment.”

Read more news from ARBURG here.

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