Sumitomo (SHI) Demag collects second consecutive silver sustainability medal
Sumitomo (SHI) Demag announced the placement in the 94th percentile of worldwide companies assessed by EcoVadis, a globally recognised sustainability ratings platform. Awarded silver for the second year in a row, the company narrowly missed out on a gold medal. This repeated recognition confirms Sumitomo (SHI) Demag’s dedication to sustainability, ethics, and responsible business practices, and provides further assurance that the company’s sustainability strategy is continuously advancing in the right direction.
“This year we placed within the top six per cent of all global participants, which is testament to the hard work that all our teams continue to put into sustainable practices. Just one percentage more and we would have been awarded gold,” exclaims company Compliance Officer Carsten Friedemann. In 2022, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag was awarded its first EcoVadis bronze medal, progressing to silver in 2023 and climbing the ratings again this year.
Due to the revered success of the EcoVadis ratings and with more companies now participating in the listing, the evaluation criteria for 2024 became more rigorous. “To reflect the business imperative of sustainability, rather than dilute the relevance of these awards, EcoVadis tightened the criteria for medal eligibility to reflect the higher standards across all four evaluated areas,” reports Thomas Kroha, responsible for infrastructure, energy, environment and sustainability within the company.
In 2023, silver medals were awarded to companies scoring in the top 25 per cent, while in 2024, the silver threshold was raised to the top 15 per cent. Sumitomo (SHI) Demag’s score averaged 73 points out of 100, with significant improvements once again reported in all categories, including 80 points in Environment and 70 points in Labour and Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement.
Reflecting on some of the company’s biggest sustainability milestones in the last 12 months, Friedemann adds: “We reached our first ISO 45001 certification with regard to occupational safety management. Additionally, we also submitted our first detailed report to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which helps companies to increase transparency by tracking emissions.”
Joining the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTI) was another forward-looking commitment. It requires companies to submit a package of measures within 24 months on how they want to reach CO2-neutrality. This is then checked and evaluated according to scientific standards. Further efforts made globally by the company include receiving a CDP climate change, water management and deforestation rating of A-, inclusion in stock market sustainability indices, and being awarded a gold standard for inclusion , diversity and LGBTQ+.
“The annual EcoVadis review is greatly important to our customers as it provides them with a neutral and independent benchmark to assess our company efforts and progress,” affirms Kroha. “Being so close to achieving gold this year means that we will continue to accelerate our efforts to reach this target in 2025.”
To-date, more than 130,000 companies have been rated by EcoVadis, including many global polymer processors and machinery manufacturers. The EcoVadis methodology examines the entire supply chain through questionnaires and reports to score companies in five categories: labour and human rights, environment, sustainable procurement, carbon management, and ethics. The scores are averaged to determine the overall result, ensuring each aspect of sustainability is considered.
