• Net zero by 2050 is the aim of KHS, the Dortmund engineering company within the corporate Salzgitter AG Group.
    Net zero by 2050 is the aim of KHS, the Dortmund engineering company within the corporate Salzgitter AG Group.
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KHS has once again been awarded the coveted gold status by rating agency EcoVadis, with the packaging and processing systems supplier improving on last year’s assessment – now earning 73 points out of 100 in the completely revised evaluation method.

In taking part in the EcoVadis audit, KHS has had its commitment to sustainability, especially within its global value chains, verified since 2012.

Increasingly strict requirements – necessitated in Europe, in particular by the regulations of the European Green Deal – have caused the rating agency to make fundamental changes to its principle of assessment. This has resulted in renewed intensification of all of the rating criteria.

The benchmarks in the assessed categories of environment, labour law and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement have been significantly raised.

This has led to greater competition between the participating companies and made the procedure even more demanding, with regard to the results achieved to date and their associated rankings.

Moreover, annual updates of EcoVadis’ evaluation criteria mean that requirements governing proof of performance during an audit have also been tightened. In short, companies now need to be constantly striving to improve their commitment to sustainability.

In this context, Kai Acker, CEO of KHS, considers the company’s renewed gold status to be a particularly great success.

Kai Acker, CEO of KHS Group.
Kai Acker, CEO of KHS Group.

“This is a strong signal for the KHS Group and our customers and provides further confirmation of our commitment to the protection of the environment, ethical business practices and social responsibility,” said Acker.

Besides the names of the medal winners, the assessment period and percentile are now also published. Of all companies evaluated – regardless of their branch of industry – KHS is therefore among the top five per cent with its commitment to sustainability.

The engineering company is therefore consistently pursuing its aim to reach net zero within the Group by 2050.

“With our second gold award, we’re creating a reliable and credible basis for assessment of our commitment to sustainability for our customers especially,” Acker added.

EcoVadis is one of the world’s key platforms for the assessment of corporate sustainability achievements.

The EcoVadis database currently contains more than 130,000 rated companies from over 180 countries and 220 different sectors.

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