What are the benefits of sustainability seals?

Never trust a seal that you didn't issue yourself.

The sealing of the environment continues unabated. This doesn’t refer to the sealing of floors or soil, but to the inflation of seals that purport to prove product sustainability.

There are over 400 seals and certificates relating to sustainability. And new ones are being added every day. Their meaningfulness is close to zero: lots of greenwashing with little substance.

This isn’t the path that Hesse is following. Because we’re serious about the objective of making our portfolio and company sustainable.

We’re being guided by the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. One focus is the redesign of our product portfolio, with the sub-objectives of eliminating solvents (VOCs) and using sustainable raw materials.

So how can comparability of products and companies be established?

So how can comparability of products and companies be established?

This hasn’t yet been clarified in detail, but the standards required for proper reporting are gradually emerging. And we’re contributing to that.

It basically concerns the three pillars of sustainability – economy, ecology and social issues – so we’ve decided to certify this via DIN EN ISO 90001, 45001, 50001 and 14001, since these standards already cover the majority of aspects. ISO 14064 is also planned, as is life cycle assessment according to ISO 14040/14044 for individual products.

We’ll also publish sustainability reports according to the standard of the German Sustainability Code (DNK) to ensure transparent communication.

And we’ll apply the regulations in the EU Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD*) once they are finalized.

This is the yardstick by which we at Hesse measure ourselves. No umpteenth fantasy seal, but rather valid data for our procurement decisions.

Hesse is a family-run company in the best sense of the term. It’s not just managed by a family, it also shares in the experiences of its employees’ families. This means we’re also aware of our responsibility to future generations at first hand. The issue of sustainability is too important for us to play marketing games with it.

*Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)

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