Wieland Awarded Silver Medal by ESG Evaluator EcoVadis

Wieland, a 200-year-old German copper and copper alloy manufacturing company that makes piping for CO2 (R744) heat-exchanger products, was among the top 25% of companies rated for environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) by EcoVadis, receiving a silver medal in January 2023 with a score of 62 out of 100 points.

The previous year, Wieland was awarded a bronze medal by the global rating agency.

Since 2007, EcoVadis, headquartered in Paris, has been evaluating and rating companies based on sustainability and corporate social responsibility. As part of this year's evaluation, Wieland rated above average for both the labor and human rights and the ethics categories.

"A sustainability strategy is only successful when you work as a team," said Erwin Mayr, CEO of the Wieland Group. "Rating results such as those from EcoVadis acknowledge the ambitious goals that we at Wieland are achieving together. Our target is to further improve Wieland's sustainability performance and, thus, our rating results in the next assessment."

Using international sustainability standards, including ISO 26000, the United Nations Global Compact and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), EcoVadis evaluates the sustainability performance of companies in 21 criteria areas, providing customer assessment information concerning supplier qualifications. Along with labor & human rights and ethics, the evaluation also covers the environment and sustainable procurement.

EcoVadis has evaluated more than 85,000 companies in 160 countries.

In January 2023, Weiland also received a B rating in the "climate change" category from the London-based Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), putting the manufacturer in the top 36% of international peers. The focus of the CDP evaluation and rating is climate issues.

According to Wieland's 2020/21 sustainability report, its scope 1 (i.e., direct from operations) and scope 2 (i.e., indirect from off-site energy consumption) emissions decreased by 10% during the reporting period.

"Positive rating results from EcoVadis or most recently from the Carbon Disclosure Project show us, on the one hand, that we are on the right track. But they also serve to identify potential areas for action as part of our sustainability strategy," Mayr said, setting Wieland's continuous improvement in sustainability performance as a priority.

Wieland operates globally, supplying semi-finished copper and copper alloy products for refrigeration, air conditioning, electronics, automotive and other industries. It recently acquired U.S.-based Heyco Metals and National Bronze Manufacturing to expand product offerings, including bronze bushing, bearings and other industrial components.

"Rating results such as those from EcoVadis acknowledge the ambitious goals that we at Wieland are achieving together."