It comes following other instances of recognition for the company’s efforts in this area, with Symrise also recently having been acknowledged with gold status by rating agency EcoVadis, and winning a place on the Climate A List compiled by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
Hans Holger Gliewe, Symrise chief sustainability officer, comments: “Sustainability forms the basis of all our actions, and we view it as a key factor to our success.”
Top of the pack
Symrise was picked out by the German Sustainability Award Foundation as a nominee in the category of “Germany’s most sustainable large corporation 2016”, and the company states this is due to its ‘pioneering’ work in biodiversity.
This is seen in its focus on preserving biodiversity and ecosystems in its use of bio-based raw material, the company says. One example of this is its Symchronize Initiative, that identifies approaches and potential within the supply chain for reducing the consumption of energy, water and resources, as well as cutting down emissions.
It also has a sustainability criteria catalogue for suppliers by which is working to assess each of its primary suppliers for their sustainability, and supports small-scale farmers in applying sustainable cultivation techniques.
“Our goal is to preserve local ecosystems so they continue to serve as a habitat for a wide variety of species while also serving as a source of raw materials for Symrise, and to furnish a livelihood for the local population,” explains Holger Gliewe.
Carbon footprint reduction
Like the EcoVadis gold status, the company’s recognition by the CDP is in the form of a rating. It gave Symrise an A rating for the 2016 CDP Climate Scoring for the DACH region.
CDP reportedly recognised Symrise as a sector leader for the category of energy and materials, as well as an index/country leader for the German MDAX stock index.
It means that Symrise sits among the top 4% of MDAX companies and among the top 11% in the wider industry, the company says.