As part of the Sustainability Heroes Conference, the DQS and DGQ honored six companies with the Sustainability Heroes Awards. This year the choice in the category Sustainability Strategy fell on Gerresheimer. The company had applied for this award for the first time with its concept. Now Gerresheimer is one of the six companies selected by the jury from a total of 212 applications.
“We applied because we are convinced of our sustainability strategy. I am more pleased that we were able to convince the jury with our application. This is a nice confirmation and a strong motivation for the whole Gerresheimer Group,” says Katja Schnitzler, Group Senior Director EHS, CSR, OPEX at Gerresheimer.
The jury explained its decision as follows: “Gerresheimer AG is honored for the way in which the topic of sustainability is holistically integrated into the corporate strategy and culture. The company promotes the sustainable development of the entire value chain with ambi-tion and commitment. In doing so, the sustainability agenda considers not only the com-pany itself but also the needs of customers, employees, the environment and civil society”
To further stimulate active commitment in the economy, the DQS (German Society for the Certification of Management Systems) and the DGQ (German Society for Quality) announce the Sustainability Heroes Awards every year. This year’s award winners were honored dur-ing the Sustainability Heroes Conference, which took place on October 26, 27 & 28, 2021.
Applications and jury
A total of 212 applications were submitted in the six categories. Accordingly, it was difficult for the jury team to select six winners from the many inspiring initiatives. “Since we first announced the awards in 2015, the number and quality of applications has increased mas-sively every year,” emphasized Behzad Sadegh, who had the privilege of representing DQS on the jury. “As a member of the judging panel, it was a pleasure to gain an insight into the many outstanding sustainability initiatives that unfortunately the public rarely hear about. From the many applications, I will remember above all the incredible innovation and drive – and that from startups, medium-sized companies and large corporations alike.”
To ensure an objective assessment, the applications were evaluated by independent sustainability experts. Simone Busch (IHK Düsseldorf), Prof. Dr. Bettina Stoll (Fulda University of Applied Sciences), Franziska Honheiser (IHK Frankfurt), Patrick Bungard (M3TRIX Insti-tute) and Behzad Sadegh (DQS CFS GmbH) jointly formed the jury.