“Think globally, act locally“
... has been the HERING motto for over 130 years. Today, this guiding principle is more relevant than ever. As a construction company, we are part of an industry that consumes the highest amount of resources and at the same time is one of the largest producers of waste. What can we do to counter this?
At HERING, we see ourselves as pioneers in the field of sustainability. As early as 1996, we were the first construction company in Germany to obtain EMAS certification. Every three years, we publish an environmental statement documenting our goals and how we have achieved them. Actually, for the first time, we published a sustainability report with an integrated environmental statement in accordance with EMAS - a logical next step in view of our ecological and social responsibility.
It documents how we deal internally and externally with the issues that are essential to our future viability.
At HERING, we are involved in social, ecological and political initiatives in our regions, as well as in supra-regional associations and institutions that influence our underlying conditions and in which we assume social responsibility. We distribute donations and sponsoring across 3 topic areas: Social affairs, community and promotion of the region.
Our sustainability mission statement comprises three essential pillars:
Our employees
We want to support our employees in their development with us, bind them to our company and continuously attract new employees. We want to be judged in these three areas of activity. We regularly redefine the content strategically and reflect on our work through the feedback of our employees.
Building materials and energy
We continuously reduce the consumption of natural resources in the development and construction of modular platforms and roofs, mobile noise barriers, thin façades made of textile concrete, mobile and durable toilet facilities. Our goal here is to completely avoid energy from fossil sources. For production and business operations this means: as little energy as possible, and whenever possible from renewable sources.
Region and environment
We are socially committed in our regions of South Westphalia as well as in Lusatia in order to maintain the attractiveness of the respective living environment for our current and future employees.
EMAS - Environmental statement
The sustainability report is also partly used as an environmental statement for EIAAS certification. We are reporting on the figures from 2020/2021, which relate to the areas of HERING Sanikonzept, HERING Systeme and HERING Bahnbau. The figures are verified by experts.
DNK - German Sustainability Code
In November 2018, the company published the first declaration in accordance with the German Sustainability Code (DNK). Thanks to the current publication, our sustainability performance including 2020 is transparent and comparable, which is confirmed by the DNK signet. The DNK is a voluntary standard for reporting on sustainability aspects and is published by the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE).
EcoVadis
HERING had its sustainability performance evaluated again in 2023 by the EcoVadis rating agency and received the "Gold" award. EcoVadis operates a collaborative platform that provides CSR ratings of suppliers for global supply chains.
UN Global Compact
HERING has committed itself to compliance with the ten principles of the UN Global Compact. These principles are set out and formulated in our Code of Conduct for customers, suppliers and employees. They consequently form the framework for our cooperation. We expect our business partners to adhere to these principles just as we do. We have our suppliers and subcontractors sign this responsibility towards people and the environment in a Code of Conduct.
Allianz pro Schiene / Pro-rail alliance
HERING is a supporting member of the ‘Allianz pro Schiene’ (‘Pro-Rail Alliance’) in Germany. The ‘Allianz pro Schiene’ represents companies from the entire rail sector and promotes rail as a safe and environmentally-friendly mode of transport.
Environmental and social issues: Projects
HERING Foundations:
HERING FOUNDATION NATURE AND MAN
In 2018, Annette Hering founded the HERING FOUNDATION NATURE AND MAN. With the foundation, HERING wishes to contribute to avoiding and reducing man-made and industry-specific negative impacts on nature and the environment – and wherever possible, to make good for damage already caused. In the future, this foundation will support projects that pursue precisely this goal. Further information is available on the foundation's website at www.hering-stiftung.de .
HERING FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF PUBLIC SANITATION
Under the umbrella of the Kindernothilfe Foundation, we have established the above-mentioned foundation with which we want to pursue our aims of providing clean water and sanitation at the project level. This is not the first time we have supported projects of the Aynimundo organization in Peru ... more information can be found here: Promotion of social projects in Peru (News from 24.7.2018).
