Responsible and sustainable practices are part of Pfleiderer's DNA. This has now been recognised by EcoVadis, which has awarded the company a Gold Medal sustainability rating.
Over the past two years, Pfleiderer has been sharing information about its long-standing CSR activities: the first sustainability report was published, almost the entire product range was awarded the Blue Angel certification, and the first product ranges achieved Cradle to Cradle CertifiedTM standards. In addition, the company joined the Initiative for Climate Protection in the Wood Industry and mapped the carbon footprint of the company and its products. In 2021, the company also launched its new sustainability strategy, "Naturally Sustainable". In recognition of this and its ongoing commitments, the company received a Gold Medal award from EcoVadis.
The sustainability rating by EcoVadis, one of the world's largest providers in this field, evaluates 21 criteria across the categories of environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement.
"After being awarded silver last year, we are very pleased to have achieved the gold medal in our second year of taking part in this evaluation. This puts Pfleiderer in the top four percent of over 90,000 companies from more than 160 countries and 200 industries that participated in the overall evaluation," explains Dr Frank Herrmann, COO of the Pfleiderer Group. "Much more important to us, however, are the insights we gain regarding possible improvements and measures that still need to be taken."
Following a thorough review of Pfleiderer’s comprehensive ESG frameworks, Sustainalytics derived a score of 13.1 for the unmanaged risk across all material ESG issues affecting the Company’s long-term performance. The score placed Pfleiderer solidly in the “low risk” category of the rating scale.
With this excellent score, Pfleiderer commands the no. 3 position among the 135 companies in the building products industry ranked by Sustainalytics. The Company is also placed in the top 6 percentile among more than 14,000 companies worldwide currently rated by Sustainalytics.
“We are proud of these very strong results for our debut ESG rating by Sustainalytics. The outcome is a clear recognition of our efforts to promote a circular wood ecosystem, which has been at the heart of our business for many decades, as well as to become net zero-carbon business”, said Dr. Mani Herold, CFO of Pfleiderer Group.
Sustainalytics’ ESG Risk Ratings are designed to help investors identify and understand financially material ESG risks in their portfolio companies and how those risks might affect performance. Sustainalytics’ ESG Risk Ratings measure how well companies proactively manage the environmental, social and governance issues that are the most material to their business. Based on a structured, objective and transparent methodology, the ESG Ratings provide an assessment on companies’ ability to mitigate risks and capitalize on opportunities.
