Romaco earns gold level recognition in the EcoVadis sustainability ratings

The Romaco Group, a leading international supplier of processing and packaging equipment, 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 two per cent of all suppliers assessed. EcoVadis is a globally recognized provider of sustainability ratings with more than 150,000 rated organizations in over 185 countries.

The Romaco Group has earned its first-ever Gold Level Recognition in the EcoVadis sustainability ratings. The international group of companies scored 80 out of a possible 100 points, putting it in the top two percent of all suppliers assessed. Following the silver medal won in 2023, this represents a great success for the manufacturer of processing and packaging technologies – and is further proof that the sustainability strategy adopted in 2020 is making an impact.

EcoVadis is an internationally recognized rating agency that assesses participants on the basis of their environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices. Operational performance and investments in the following four areas are analyzed: Environment, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement. The EcoVadis score reflects the quality of an organization’s sustainability management system. Since 2007, over 150,000 companies from more than 250 different industries and over 185 countries have undergone the rating agency’s sustainability assessment.

For the first time ever, the assessment of the Romaco Group included all six production sites: Karlsruhe, Cologne and Steinen (Germany) as well as Bologna (Italy), Barcelona (Spain) and Changsha (China). The carbon footprint of each individual Business Unit was determined and certified by an outside inspection body for this purpose. 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 decarbonization and define climate objectives.

Romaco has repeatedly achieved very good scores in the EcoVadis rating’s Environment category, not least due to the Group’s strong commitment to globally recognized 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 (SBTi). Through its membership of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the manufacturer is additionally committed to sustainable and responsible corporate governance. Romaco’s environmental management practices have been certified to ISO 14001 at four of its six production sites as a result of this.

All of the machinery supplier’s technologies are offered in a carbon-neutral version. What’s more, Romaco specifically invests in research and development projects to curb its machines’ energy consumption. 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 cut heat energy consumption by up to 50 percent. 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, Romaco performed noticeably better in the Labour & Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement categories. Among other things, target and company agreements on employee development and training were decisive here, 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 undertaken and a code of conduct drawn up for Purchasing, laying the foundation for sustainable procurement.

“The gold medal was a team effort”, emphasized Yannick Rastetter, sustainability coordinator at the Romaco Group. “It fills us with pride that, as a mid-market 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. And of course, we aim to improve on this already fantastic result in the future. As far as climate protection is concerned, on the one hand we’re doing everything we can to achieve even lower emission levels while on the other, we’re 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 consumer and environmental protection.”

Romaco is a leading international supplier of processing and packaging equipment specializing in engineering technologies for pharmaceutical products. The Group provides individual machines, lines and turnkey solutions for manufacturing, filling and packing powders, granulates, pellets, tablets, capsules, syringes, liquids and medical devices.