Sustainability
Kurtz Ersa makes significant progress in ESG rating
Since the start of the GoGreen250 sustainability initiative in 2020, Kurtz Ersa has already achieved many milestones and has thus come a big step closer to its goal of CO2 neutrality by 2029. In order to have this further development validated externally and to obtain a neutral assessment of the status quo and possible improvements, the Group has been taking part in the annual ESG rating via EcoVadis since 2022.
ESG stands for Environment, Social and Governance and measures the voluntary contribution of companies to sustainable development that goes beyond legal requirements. In the first ESG rating, Kurtz Ersa received 48 out of 100 points in the overall assessment of four subject areas and was awarded a bronze medal. This year we were able to improve our score by 8 points – so we have achieved 56 points and are among the top 24% of the companies in our industry assessed by EcoVadis. In three of the four categories (environment, labor and human rights and sustainable procurement), we were even able to improve by 10 points each, putting us in the top 11% of our industry in the environment category.
How did we achieve this?
We achieved this significant improvement on the previous year by implementing many measures – the most relevant milestones are listed in our sustainability timeline. We would like to take a closer look at some of the measures here.
CDP rating: Similar to the ESG rating, a company´s environmental performance is assessed – however, the CDP rating focuses on the area of emissions, more specifically emissions according to Scope 1, 2 and 3. In the first rating in 2022, we achieved a “C” score straight away – a good starting point for our further progress. We also took part in the 2023 CDP rating on time, but we will not receive the result until early 2024.
E-charging infrastructure and electrification of our vehicle fleet: In October 2023, a further twelve e-charging points went into operation – we now have a total of 70 charging points at our locations Kreuzwertheim and Wertheim, which can be used by our business partners, our employees and, of course, our vehicle fleet. This currently comprises 14% electric cars and 13% hybrid vehicles.
Various measures to reduce energy consumption: Together with our energy teams at the individual locations, we are focusing on continuous optimization. In 2023 alone, we have, among other things, made a further large-scale switch to LEDs and replaced two heating systems and expect to save around 800,000 kWh of energy (electricity and natural gas) over a full year as a result.
Rainwater harvesting: In order to be able to use rainwater in the future to reduce drinking water consumption, a 70 m³ rainwater cistern was installed during the expansion of our logistics center. We use the water collected there as service water, which we expect to reduce our drinking water consumption by around 500 m³.
Integrated management system: An integrated management system (IMS) consisting of ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environment), ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety) and ISO 50001 (energy) has been in place at the German sites for many years. This has two advantages: Firstly, it gives us a valid database, and secondly, we can use this as a starting point for an international roll-out of the IMS at our global locations from 2024.
Code of Conduct: In mid-2023, we revised our Code of Conduct – this applies both to us as the Kurtz Ersa Group and to our business partners.
International sustainability initiative “GoGreen250”: Our Group-wide and global sustainability initiative GoGreen250 has the overarching goal of CO2 neutrality (Scope 1 and 2 and partly Scope 3) by 2029 to mark our 250th anniversary. Our data collection, the planning and implementation of our measures and the setting and tracking of targets are carried out internationally and are continuously developed.
The Global Board acts as a supervisory body,
defines the strategy and decides on budget approvals.
Kurtz Ersa Links
Further examples and details of our sustainable activities
can be found in the current Kurtz Ersa Sustainability Report 2022.