- Sustainability
- Environment
Ecology - responsibility for the environment
Our philosophy
ifm’s philosophy clearly defines our approach of managing natural resources as carefully as possible. We demand and promote environmentally conscious decisions and behaviour, both within the company and with our business partners.
Company policy
The company policy combines the existing policies and requirements from the areas of compliance, quality, environmental protection, occupational health and safety and IT security, and is in accordance with the corporate policies. A company policy serves several purposes: It defines clear standards to ensure consistent procedures and to ensure management system conformance. Our company policy communicates the fundamental objectives, values and principles that serve as a guideline for decisions and actions – based on ifm’s corporate philosophy.
Environmental management and publications
In order to meet our ecological responsibility and to continuously optimize environmental protection, our environmental management system was established over 20 years ago. In 2020, it was certified to DIN EN ISO 14001 and EMAS (EU Eco-Audit). Every year, we publish an environmental statement in German, in accordance with the EMAS standard. Here, we provide information about our environmental management system, as well as our environmental performance, goals, and metrics.
An overview of environmental topics at ifm is also given in the sustainability info sheet, as well as our edition of "Sustainable thinking and acting. The ifm quality, environmental and occupational safety management". It contains our corporate environmental policy, environmental protection measures taken, and information about critical substances.
Environmental measures
The creation of ifm’s "Occupational Safety and Environmental Protection” department dates back to 1991. We can look back over decades of experience and view an equally long list of environmental protection measures taken. For example, these include the continuous expansion of energy efficiency measures, the substitution of environmentally hazardous substances, comprehensive precautionary measures, and the annual preparation of an operational ecological balance since 1993. Current environmental goals and measures are laid down in the EMAS environmental programme and updated annually. In addition, ifm has committed to climate neutrality in its operations by 2030. To meet this goal, the group of companies follows the three-step sequence "avoid, reduce and compensate." In addition to direct and energy-related emissions, we consider emissions from our supply chain.
Products
Durability of our products is the highest priority for us, and is a core element of reducing resource consumption by reducing waste. As early as the product development stage, we pay special attention to the economic and sustainable use of resources - from the design to production to the product. In doing so, we take into account environmentally relevant aspects and check relevant regulations and standards for their applicability.
Additionally, many of our products contribute directly to preventing or reducing negative environmental impacts.
