Following two silver medals in previous years, HERMA was able to achieve a gold medal for the first time in the EcoVadis sustainability audit. The company, which specialises in packaging and product labelling with its headquarters located in Filderstadt, has therefore made it into the top 5 percent of the companies audited by EcoVadis in the last 12 months. EcoVadis is one of the world's leading providers of sustainability audits. Around 150,000 companies across 185 countries have now undergone an audit there. "The gold medal underlines that our ongoing commitment to sustainability is having an impact," says Marcus Gablowski, Chief Sustainability Officer at HERMA. "We believe it is important and necessary to uphold the indisputable value of sustainable business especially in times of global crises and uncertainties. This is the only way to ensure the long-term stability of companies and general prosperity", adds managing director Dr. Guido Spachtholz. Elise Keuler, Marcus Gablowski's colleague in the sustainability team, continues: "This is a great success, which we are particularly pleased about, but for which we have worked really hard – we are pleased to see our efforts recognized in this way. We know that positive EcoVadis ratings continue to be highly valued by our customers. This also shows us that sustainable action is still recognised and acknowledged."
Key factors that contributed to HERMA’s leap into the top 5 percent included, among other things, a high level of transparency in public reporting, the thorough preparation of a detailed sustainability report, and the ongoing expansion and effective implementation of sustainability measures across almost all evaluated areas. "Our climate target, which was officially confirmed by the renowned Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) at the end of 2024, also contributed to this excellent result. This means that HERMA is making its contribution to achieving the 1.5 degrees climate goal by 2030," emphasises Elise Keuler. On the basis of scientifically justified climate goals, companies undertake as part of the SBTi to adopt measures voluntarily that are actually necessary to limit the further increase in global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the year 2100 – compared to the pre-industrial level of 1850. This global warming path was defined as the most ambitious by the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement.
