ESG – Environmental Social Governance

The EcoVadis sustainability rating awarded us the silver medal. Our various activities in the area of environmental social governance were assessed and evaluated.

In cooperation with the Alliance for Development and Climate Foundation, SPHEREA supports various climate certificates that are part of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UN SDG). The purchase of these climate certificates will support the following projects:

• VCS Forest Project Uruguay
• UN CER hydroelectric power generation Uganda
• UN CER Wind project India

In cooperation with a farmer in Unterfahlheim, district Neu-Ulm, SPHEREA has leased a 4,400m² field. On this field, flower meadow is sown to bind CO₂ and at the same time provide food for insects and shelter for animals.

Together with the municipality of Nersingen, SPHEREA launched a tree planting campaign in October 2021. In this campaign, 1,635 trees were planted on an area of 0.5 hectares. As a result, approximately 6,000 tons of CO₂ can be bound per year. Likewise, this forest provides protection for wildlife and insects gain habitat.

Together with the expertise of the Fokus Zukunft company, SPHEREA analyzed its carbon footprint. This involved calculating SPHEREA’s greenhouse gas footprint according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s specifications. This includes heat consumption, fuel consumption, electricity consumption, district heating / district cooling, upstream energy-related emissions, business travel and overnight hotel stays, employee commutes, waste generation/wastewater in the company, and SPHEREA’s consumables. Based on this, measures were developed to reduce SPHEREA’s carbon footprint and make it climate neutral.

SPHEREA has defined its own DNA (world of values) for itself and its employees, which all employees are familiar with and according to which SPHEREA employees act on a daily basis:

Innovation, creativity, agility: If the wind of change is blowing, some build a wall and we will build windmills. We like to manage the agility of our business world through the creativity of our people leading to innovation in our products and the way of working.

Team work & leadership: The Team Spirit of SPHEREA is beyond the average and a key success factor. A great team requires professional leadership with integrity and inspiration.

Target oriented processes: Our processes are developed by our people and always focused on targets. We are using the processes in the daily operations in order to deliver outstanding results.

Highly involved people: As an engineering company selling and delivering complex project and products we fully depend on the performance and the commitment of our people. We recognize our employees as the most valuable asset of our company.

Focus on customer: We believe that enthusiastic customers will enable us to deliver the expected results and to develop ourselves. Therefore, we always have to keep the focus on the customers.

Lived values: Values are impacting our daily operations and are taken seriously by the managers and our people.

Social responsibility: We are part of the society in Ulm, linked to our business partners and impacting the environment. Therefore, we need to take responsibility and contribute to the society.

Member of Spherea Group: Spherea Group is the sole shareholder of Spherea GmbH and we are a member of the Spherea Group. We can take benefits out of that, but we shall also contribute to the Spherea Group success.

Code of Ethics: Code of Ethics is for us not just a formal obligation, but a very important value for our business. Compliance to the legal and ethical rules as well as a commitment to our DNA is absolutely mandatory for us.

As part of its corporate responsibility, SPHEREA is committed to placing legal and ethical obligations at the center of its business activities and to fulfilling them beyond the legal framework. Although the Supply Chain Sourcing Act does not apply to Spherea due to the size of the company, we intend to use it for our benefit. To meet the high standards, the relationship between SPHEREA and its partners and suppliers plays a key role. SPHEREA requires that partners and suppliers, as well as all participants in the entire supply chain, comply with all regulations and laws of the country in which business of any kind is conducted. SPHEREA ensures this by adhering to the Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Charter for Partners and Suppliers.

Since 2020, SPHEREA has been represented in the Senate of the Economy by the Managing Director of SPHEREA, Martin Kugelmann, and thus have the chance to help shape a sustainable future in the spirit of John F. Kennedy’s quote: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask rather what you can do for your country!”

The Senate of Economy is composed of personalities from business, science and society who are particularly aware of their responsibility to the state and society. Together, they contribute to the practical implementation of the sustainability goals oriented toward the common public benefit in the sense of the ecological-social market economy. The Senate of Economy is purely oriented towards the common good and is in constant dialogue with representatives from politics and science.

The ethical principles of the Senate’s community of values can also be the basis and guideline for the economic actions of the members of the Senate. Fairness and partnership in business life as well as the social competence of entrepreneurs and executives shape the work of the Senate.

In 2018, SPHEREA was awarded the Ludwig Erhard Prize in bronze (German excellence price).

The Ludwig Erhard Prize is awarded on the basis of an intensive assessment process to organizations and companies that distinguish themselves through a holistic management system and the sustainable success of their business activities. The underlying assessment methodology for the process is the EFQM model.

To further spread the idea of excellence in Germany, Spherea is a member of the Ludwig Erhard Award initiative. Our managing director Martin Kugelmann is a member of the jury.

SPHEREA is certified according to the quality management system DIN EN ISO 9001, EN 9100 and the international environmental management standard ISO14001. We also consider the requirements of AQAP as well as the railroad quality management system ISO/TS 22163.