Sustainability-oriented processes and structures play a prominent role within the Acerinox Group, which has also been a member of the UN Global Compact since 2013. All Group companies strive to continuously improve their social, environmental and economic performance. EcoVadis provides a platform through which companies can have their sustainability performance independently assessed. Customers can access this evaluation and then take it into account in their purchasing decisions. In recent years, the EcoVadis platform has developed into an international standard, and more and more VDM Metals customers are requesting access to the company’s assessment results.

In 2018, VDM Metals' sustainability performance was evaluated for the first time, further evaluations took place at the end of 2019 and in the summer of last year. "We are very proud of this award, as we were able to improve our rating for the fourth time in a row. This development proves that we are on the right track. At the same time, the Gold status is an encouragement to further improve our sustainability performance," said Dr. Niclas Müller, CEO.

The evaluation takes place in several steps. The main element of data collection is a questionnaire covering the topics of environmental activities, labor and human rights, sustainable procurement and ethics/compliance. All information must be provided with suitable evidence. In a further step, the data is evaluated by EcoVadis. The analysis of each topic is based on three key indicators: policies and guidelines, measures and results. After analyzing the responses and related documents, EcoVadis summarizes the results into an overall and a topic-based score and provides an overview of strengths and weaknesses.

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