GERMANY – 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.

The sustainability rating by EcoVadis, one of the world’s largest providers in this field, evaluates 21 criteria from the areas of environment, labor 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.”

At the beginning of 2021, Pfleiderer had already formulated clear targets for the future development of the use of wood in its products and its CO2 emissions which are also reflected in a sustainability-linked financing of the company. For example, the proportion of recycled wood used is to be increased to 50% by 2025 and CO2 emissions are to be reduced by 21% in the same period, compared to the base year 2020. Then, at the end of 2021, Pfleiderer joined the UN Global Compact and defined its future ambitions in its ESG Framework, as well as further clear goals regarding raw materials, climate, and people.

The Pfleiderer Group is a leading wood-based panel manufacturer in Europe with annual sales of approx. 700 million euros and around 2,000 employees.