Our contribution to sustainable development
Dr. Constantin Schöler, Dr. Christoph Schöler
Sustainability report 2023
The sustainable use of natural resources and responsible corporate governance are essential components of our actions. These values are crucial to the long-term success of the Brand Group. This sustainability report is a component of our continuous sustainability reporting. We want to emphasize our responsibility in the area of ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) and report transparently on our plans, goals and measures.
Dr. Christoph Schöler, Dr. Constantin Schöler
Executive directors of the Brand Group
United Nations Global Compact
With more than 20,000 participating companies, the United Nations Global Compact is the world's largest initiative for corporate sustainability and social responsibility. The Brand Group supports the ten principles of the UN Global Compact in the areas of human rights, labor standards, environmental protection and anti-corruption and has joined the initiative on September 30, 2024. In the future, we will therefore report publicly every year on the activities with which we integrate the ten principles into our business strategy and thus make a contribution to the United Nations' goals for sustainable development and social responsibility.
Sustainability in the Brand Group
Since 2022, the Brand Group has been using the EcoVadis rating to measure its progress in sustainability. More than 300 criteria are evaluated, including climate protection, environmental friendliness, good working conditions, ethical conduct, and sustainable procurement.
In 2024, BRAND was awarded Gold status for its commitment, placing it among the top 5% of comparable companies. VACUUBRAND and VITLAB also participated in the EcoVadis rating in 2024, achieving Bronze and Silver status, respectively.
In 2025, the Brand Group will prepare its sustainability reports according to the European ESRS standards (European Sustainability Reporting Standards) within the framework of the CSRD directive (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive). This will provide even greater transparency for customers.
A particular focus is on measuring greenhouse gas emissions – from raw material extraction to the factory gate. This enables customers to consciously choose products with lower emissions.
Reduce – Reuse – Recycle
Reduce – resource-saving production
At BRAND, intelligent resource management is a certified part of our company guidelines. Our environmental management system has been certified according to DIN EN ISO 14001 since 1998. Therefore, we are committed to continuously optimizing our environmental performance. In addition, our energy management system has also been certified according to DIN EN ISO 50001 since 2015. This makes us one of the pioneers in our industry for the intelligent use of energy.
In our factory we use 100 % ecofriendly energy and energy generated on premise from our high efficiency cogeneration unit.
To prevent unnecessary packaging, we try as much as possible to have our production materials delivered in reusable packages, which are then returned to the supplier and refilled multiple times. To prevent long transport routes, we work with regional suppliers to procure many of our production materials.
Our pipette tips also demonstrate how we are working to increase the resource efficiency of consumables. We developed a production method that allows us to manufacture our tips in an especially thin-walled design, which in turn saves materials. With the TipRack refilling system, we have also reduced the amount of waste by more than 20 % when compared with the TipBox.
Reuse – long-lasting and maintenance-friendly products
Using high-quality products as long as possible directly contributes to environmental protection, as we prevent the consumption of resources which are needed for the production of new products.
Quality and longevity have always been a characteristic feature of BRAND liquid handling instruments. In many laboratories, our Dispensette® S bottle-top dispensers have been in use for a decade or longer – the high-quality materials of the parts, which are in contact with media and crucial to the function of the instruments, make this possible.
Even in the case of life science consumables, there are ways to use products multiple times. Our solid TipBoxes can, of course, be refilled with pipette tips over and over again and they can be autoclaved multiple times at 121 °C.
The micropipette Transferpette® S demonstrates how we contribute to the long service life of instruments through simple maintenance and repair. On single-channel pipettes, the ejector and shaft can be removed and cleaned in a few seconds. Due to their patented design, the individual shafts of multi-channel instruments are also easy to unscrew, making them simple to clean and replace.
Recycle – recycling with a system
A lot of our packaging has already been recognized by our customers as “sustainable packaging”.
For much of our product packaging, we use cardboard with a recycling rate of around 90 % and we are working to become even more environmentally friendly in this area.
With the TipBoxes of our pipette tips, our customers can also contribute to recycling valuable resources. The entire TipBox is made of pure polypropylene and is completely recyclable. This also applies to the corresponding TipRack refill system, which is made of polyethylene.
Working together to protect the environment
Besides the measures outlined, there are a number of other small-scale activities that we engage in to contribute to environmental protection.
We provide our employees with a water dispenser and reusable water bottles at no charge and thus do our part to prevent plastic waste by not using PET bottles. We have also planted a flower meadow for bees and butterflies on part of the business premises.
BRAND uses 100 % renewable energy from certified hydroelectric power plants. With the Wertheim public utility company, we have found a regional partner to help us achieve this. This saves 1,000 tons of CO2 per year compared with 2019. The other companies in the Brand Group also rely to clean energy from renewable sources. Our CO2 numbers are impressive: by saving energy, switching to our new combined heat and power unit and using green energy, we will cut our CO2 emissions in half in 2021 compared to 2019.
We are convinced that environmental protection will be a very important topic in the laboratory of the future, and we will consistently align our corporate strategy accordingly.
As part of the Brand Group, we are working closely with VACUUBRAND and VITLAB to collectively and sustainably develop this environmental strategy.
