Menu
For us, entrepreneurial success and sustainability are mutual prerequisites. Sustainability is firmly anchored in the DNA and business model of the E/D/E, and remains an outstanding corporate value for the E/D/E Group, even in the third generation. We strive to pool resources and services, connect partners and apply competitive concepts in order to ensure that our medium-sized companies and family-oriented members are fit for the future.
We take great responsibility for the environment, employees and society and make voluntary commitments to this end – over and above the legal requirements. This attitude has guided us as a family business for more than 90 years.
We also implemented numerous sustainability activities in our six fields of action at E/D/E in 2023. As part of this endeavour, we set ourselves ambition levels at the beginning of 2023, which together form our sustainability targets:
We want to gradually achieve our sustainability goals through our activities. In doing so, we always pay close attention to harmonising ecological, social and economic sustainability with a view to the entire value chain in the association.
We have systematically anchored our long-standing sustainability activities in our corporate structures and created the corresponding organisational framework. In terms of technical specialisation and functional differentiation, in 2023, we established our Sustainability Department, the function of Sustainability Market Services Coordinator and the Sustainability Communication and Advisory Platform. The department to which the Sustainability Officer is assigned reports directly to the Chairman of the E/D/E Management Board, and serves as an internal and external point of contact and coordinator for all sustainability issues. The Market Services Sustainability Coordinator drives the development of sustainability services for members and suppliers. Together and via the Communication and Advisory Platform, which brings together those responsible from the various E/D/E specialist areas, the achievement of key E/D/E objectives is pursued within the association.
Thanks not least to the newly created structures and the ongoing intensification of activities, we were able to make progress in all areas of activity in 2023.
Members and suppliers can utilise a wide range of services relating to sustainability via E/D/E. In 2023, it was particularly important for us to analyse the market requirements and legal regulations. In order to ensure compliance with the requirements of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG), we have worked with Prewave to provide the association with a powerful, AI-based software solution, which we use ourselves. Our portfolio of services also includes our ECO-Consulting consultancy service and our collaboration with the German Institute for Sustainability and Economics (Deutsches Institut für Nachhaltigkeit und Ökonomie). The spectrum of consulting services ranges from company and product certifications to workshops and analyses.
Further regulatory requirements have resulted from the CSRD Directive – Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. During internal workshops, we initiated a series of measures and took the first steps towards realising a dual materiality analysis approach. We actively share our knowledge with our partners and support them in preparing for future requirements.
The topic of sustainability also concerns us, our members and their customers at product level. We will extend the labelling of sustainability information – which we have focused on for suppliers in the area of PPE – to other product ranges. Packaging optimisation also contributes to more sustainable products, for example, when plastics are being replaced by paper. To this end, we regularly exchange information with our suppliers.
As one of 14 companies from Germany’s “Bergisch” region, the E/D/E received the ÖKOPROFIT award for resource-conserving management at the end of October 2023. The certification offers the opportunity for a review and thus serves as a starting point for further analyses and sustainability certifications. It also served as preparation for this year’s energy audit.
The E/D/E initially recorded and analysed data from the previous three years: this includes all electricity, gas and water consumption, as well as waste volumes. Subsequently, 33 measures for ecological management were identified during the project phase – 17 of which we have already implemented, nine are in the processing phase for 2024 and seven are in the further planning stage. For example, the E/D/E has been using 100 per cent green electricity since 2022.
And another example of success: at the suggestion of ÖKOPROFIT, we were able to reduce energy consumption by roughly 400,000 kWh by replacing various LED lamps on the E/D/E site and by installing two lighting systems in logistics.
The E/D/E has also taken on ecological responsibility in 2023 in the form of a climate sponsorship for a moorland project. Over the next few years, the “Mittelstand & Moor” initiative aims to create a moor landscape in Brandenburg spanning an area of 200 hectares through rewetting, which will serve as an important CO₂ reservoir and habitat. As a member of the “MITTELSTANDVERBUND”, we are happy to participate in this project with a partnership for 20 hectares.
The E/D/E has also decided to take part in the “ÖKOPROFIT Club” and to continue to seek a regional dialogue on the topic of sustainability. Going forward, this experience can in turn lead to further suggestions for our members. It is of central importance for us to network, exchange ideas and learn from each other in an ecosystem for sustainability. In addition to our new membership of ÖKOPROFIT, we have, therefore, continued and expanded our collaboration with mission-critical partners such as the “MITTELSTANDSVERBUND” (ZGV) and the “Zukunftskreis Nachhaltigkeit HOCH3”.
In the field of action “Responsibility for employees”, we attach particular importance to maintaining the health of our employees. Our diverse measures include health days and illness prevention courses, support for participants taking part in the “Wuppertal Schwebebahnlauf” charity run in Wuppertal, new after-work running courses and the establishment of a climbing team. In 2023, we also further refined and specified our principles on hybrid employment culture. All of this contributes to creating the space and optimum conditions for employees who wish to create and achieve something together. We have also been promoting the compatibility of work and family life for many years, for example, through our daycare centre and family-friendly working time models.
New employees are given a deep insight into our understanding of sustainability, our objectives and comprehensive activities during their induction phase, in order to sensitise them to the range of sustainability issues. We have advanced our biodiversity project on the E/D/E site with our trainees and dualstudents, and are creating new habitats for endangered wild animals and insect species.
The new “Family & Friends” concept introduced in 2023 enables employees to recommend potential team members. For every successful placement, we show our appreciation with a cash bonus, and also make a donation to a social welfare organisation. We were able to support three organisations: the “Alte Feuerwache”, a charitable institution in Wuppertal, the “Troxler Werkstätten”, which offer people with disabilities meaningful educational and work opportunities, and the “Wuppertaler Tafel”.
Our “social responsibility” is reflected in our support for a wide range of charitable projects. The E/D/E Foundation, E/D/E and its employees have once again supported numerous local institutions and realised sustainable projects. As part of the “E/D/E Christmas Wish Star Campaign” in 2023, our employees have made it possible to make the wishes of 225 children from children’s and youth homes in Wuppertal come true with donations of money or goods. Together with our employees, we also supported the people in Turkey and Syria following the earthquakes there, in the form of monetary donations and a clothing collection campaign.
The non-profit E/D/E Foundation contributes to the sustainable development of the industrial B2B sector through targeted educational support. In doing so, the Foundation has approved over 520 scholarships for vocational training at the ZHH-Bildungswerk over the past 18 years, including over 20 in 2023. Together with the University of Wuppertal, we are taking part in the Deutschlandstipendium programme led by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, for the eighth year in a row. With the funding, we not only support the students financially, but also guide them in their first steps into professional life and create opportunities for them to make contacts and build a network.
We will continue and further strengthen our sustainability activities in 2024. We will also continue to develop our service portfolio and processes for our members in a reliable fashion. With regard to market requirements and increasingly stringent regulations, we support the association, for example, by integrating the RoHS Directive on the restricted use of hazardous substances into our “Prewave” range of services. As a key investment measure, we are planning to equip one of our logistics halls with a photovoltaic system with an output of around 1000 kilowatt peak (kWp). We want to utilise a large part of the energy we generate ourselves – and thus continue to save CO₂ each year. At the same time, we aim to promote the topic of sustainability even more strongly among our employees, and cultivate an awareness of the matter as an integral part of the E/D/E vision for the future.
