Dekobild der Seitenbühne

Sustainability at E-T-A

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) – 17 goals for sustainable development

E-T-A protects lives and assets

Our goal is to protect lives and assets by our actions and with our products. We achieve this by using the given resources responsibly and we seek to preserve an environment worth living in. We want to preserve the same opportunities that we had for future generations.

E-T-A and Ecovadis

We are proud of the results that we have achieved on our way so far and are happy about the silver medal from Ecovadis. Ecovadis is one of the leading providers worldwide for sustainability ratings. This sustainability rating includes the topics environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement.

Download certificate

"The private sector is an indispensable partner to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. Enterprises can contribute within the context of their core business.

We therefore call on companies around the world to survey the impact of their actions, set ambitious targets and communicate their progress transparently."

Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations

E-T-A supports the Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, the United Nations (UN) formulated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). These 17 sustainability goals are addressed to the challenges of sustainable development on our planet.

E-T-A has committed themselves to contribute to reaching these goals through their sustainability management according to the Environment Social Governance (ESG). The following pictures of the 17 SDG serve as an overview of the milestones that we have already achieved on our way to becoming a sustainable company.

Ending poverty in all its forms and everywhere

As a value-based family business, we contribute to this goal through fair pay - also in threshold countries. For employees in need, we have established a support fund to be able to help quickly and unbureaucratically.

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture

We protect our employees and their families from hunger by providing safe jobs and a fair pay. We also offer healthy and sustainable food in our staff restaurant.

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

As a company, the health of our employees is very important to us. We have set up our own “Health Centers” in threshold countries, we organise moving breaks and offer financial subsidies for fitness centres. Our employees are provided with appropriate protective equipment and preventive medical checkups.

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Our vision is the personal development of all our employees. We promote this with substantial training budgets, our E-T-A Kolleg and regular progress dialogues. Agile work allows continuous learning and the ability to adapt. We are in close contact with universities and offer apprenticeships and internships. In the Nuremberg metropolitan region, we support management personal through the Cross Mentoring Programme.

 

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

E-T-A supports the project "Women in Leadership Positions" by the bayme vbm (Employers' Association of the Metal and Electrical Industry in Bavaria), which has been promoting the careers of women for over a decade. We have been able to increase the proportion of women in our own leadership positions from 0 % to 33 % over the last decade and are pursuing the goal of achieving parity. 

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

We provide treated and filtered drinking water free of charge for our employees at all locations and we use water resources sustainably. In the threshold countries, we provide high-level sanitation facilities. Our plating department discharges clean water and we successfully distribute electronic overcurrent protection devices for the water-recycling sector.

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

At our locations in Altdorf and Hohenfels, we are exclusively supplied with green energy and we have our suppliers confirm this. We are already covering 25 % of our power demand through our own photovoltaic systems. The new logistics building generates more power than it requires through photovoltaic systems. We also install photovoltaic systems at our locations abroad. Moreover, different circuit breaker types are used in applications for renewable energies, making them safer and more reliable.

 

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

It is our goal to ensure sustainable growth, living wages and the implementation of the principles of the UN Global Compact. We have established a “Social performance culture” at E-T-A. In our employee surveys, carried out by the Great Place to Work, our employees regularly reflect high satisfaction with their workplace. In this regard, E-T-A is among the top 100 companies in Germany.

Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation

Our products protect lives and assets against damages caused by overcurrent. The scope ranges from industrial applications to incubators for newborns or the electrical protection of production facilities for Corona vaccines. With a F&E budget of about 8 % of our turnover, we achieve sustainable innovations, collaborate with universities and are a member of public funding and research projects. Our high standards are reflected through different awards, such as the “Top 100 innovative companies” or E-T-A’s repeated No. 1 listing as world market leader champion in the “Circuit breaker for equipment protection & circuit protectors” area.

Reduce income inequality within and among countries

Regardless of the cultural and regional differences, we shape the values and orientations of the company at all locations through our vision and strategy. By means of a so-called Company Retreat, we promote cultural work at E-T-A with globally networking participants and ensure a common understanding of our values and orientation through our leadership principles. Our plants specialise in the sense of a Centre of Excellence and work based on their respective strengths. By joining the BME Code of Conduct, we also follow the principles of the UN Global Compact to eliminate discrimination of any kind.

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable

We support our local communities through the release of employees in the context of voluntary activities such as e.g. the fire brigade, the Red Cross or the Federal Agency for Technical Relief. Our fund raising committee decides on the use of the donation budget for local funding every year. Our electrical charging stations are available to the public to promote electric mobility beyond the E-T-A environment. In the site planning, we pursue an extensive greening of the areas and the preservation of natural flower meadows.

 

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

Since 2014, our environmental management system has been certified according to the ISO 14001 standard, in 2015, our energy management was certified according to the ISO 50001 standard. In this context, we have gradually reduced the number of hazardous substances and removed harmful chemicals from our production processes and products. Scrap and waste are constantly being reduced through continuous optimisation. When constructing and renovating buildings, we pay great attention to the use of sustainable materials and energy efficiency. To promote sustainable consumption habits among our employees, we always offer attractive vegetarian dishes in our staff restaurant and we are cooperating with bike leasing partners.

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts by regulating emissions and promoting developments in renewable energy

We have set ourselves the goal of becoming a climate-neutral company. We pursue this goal primarily through real process and behavioural changes and not only based on climate certificates. For example, we rely entirely on electric mobility for our vehicle fleet and provide charging stations for the vehicles in our parking areas. We use environmentally and climate-friendly technology such as LED lighting and replace fossil fuels for heating where possible.

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

We use packaging made of sustainable materials as far as technically possible and avoid using plastic packing. In the procurement of office supplies, we give preference to sustainable and recycled materials.

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

We actively pursue environmental protection based on the precautionary principle, promote environmental awareness and rely on the use of environmentally friendly technologies. We actively design attractive locations via greening concepts.

Promote inclusive societies, provide access to justice for all and build accountable institutions

Our mission is the protection of lives and assets. This is the intended purpose of our products and services. This is why we do not want to supply products or solutions for military customer applications, which are intended for combat operations

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

We support our customers in their efforts to develop their own supply chains towards sustainability. We also work together with our suppliers on the further development and orientation towards sustainability goals. This is reflected, among other things, in contracts as well as in the annual supplier assessments.

Learn more

You can download our actions to implement the goals for a sustainable development as pdf.

Download