Romaco earns Gold EcoVadis sustainability rating

The Romaco Group has been awarded its first-ever gold medal in the EcoVadis sustainability ratings, scoring 80 out of a possible 100 points. This result puts the international group of companies in the top 2 per cent of all suppliers assessed. 

Following the silver medal the group won in 2023, gold represents a great success for the manufacturer of processing and packaging technologies. It is also proof that the sustainability strategy adopted in 2020 is having an impact. 

EcoVadis is an internationally recognised rating agency that assesses participants on their environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices. Operational performance and investments are analysed in the following four areas: environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. The EcoVadis score reflects the quality of an organisation’s sustainability management system.

For the first time, the Romaco Group’s assessment included all six production sites: The Romaco Group’s assessment included all six production sites: Karlsruhe, Cologne and Steinen in Germany; Bologna, Italy; Barcelona, Spain; and Changsha China. For this purpose, the carbon footprint of each individual Business Unit was determined and certified by an outside inspection body. 

The calculation was carried out in accordance with the international standards of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG). Romaco uses this operational carbon footprint as a starting point for implementing measures to accelerate decarbonisation and define climate objectives 

The group has repeatedly achieved very good scores in the EcoVadis rating’s Environment category, not least due to its strong commitment to globally recognised climate change objectives. In 2024, Romaco’s plans for reducing Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions were confirmed by the Science Based Targets initiative. 

Through its membership of the United Nations Global Compact, the manufacturer is committed to sustainable and responsible corporate governance. This has resulted in ISO 14001 certification for Romaco’s environmental management practices at four of its six production sites. 

The machinery supplier offers all its technologies in a carbon-neutral version. What’s more, Romaco invests in research and development projects to curb the energy consumption of its machines. 

The use of innovative energy recovery systems has significantly reduced carbon dioxide emissions from the company’s process plants. Romaco Tecpharm tablet coaters equipped with a cross-flow heat exchanger have cut heat energy consumption by up to 50 per cent. Thanks to an integrated heat pump, the heat energy required by fluid bed processors from Romaco Innojet can be over 70 per cent lower. In the primary packaging segment, Romaco Noack’s Unity 600 blister packaging line now consumes substantially less energy courtesy of a new blister transfer system that dispenses with a vacuum-assisted overhead conveyor. 

Compared to the 2023 rating, the group performed noticeably better in the labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement categories. Among other things, target and company agreements on employee development and training were decisive, as were corporate health and pension schemes. Romaco also scored highly with its compliance policy as well as its flexible working hours and flextime model. Various supplier surveys were conducted, and a code of conduct was drawn up for purchasing, laying the foundation for sustainable procurement.

“The gold medal was a team effort,” emphasised Yannick Rastetter, sustainability coordinator, Romaco Group. “It fills us with pride that as a midmarket company with less than 1,000 employees worldwide, we succeeded in meeting the high requirements of the EcoVadis rating across all countries and sites and earned such an excellent ranking. We aim to improve on this already fantastic result in the future. As far as climate protection is concerned, we’re doing everything we can to achieve even lower emission levels while developing technologies to reduce the end product’s carbon footprint. After all, that’s not only in our customers’ interests; it also has benefits for consumers and environmental protection.”