Our sustainability course
The transformation process
Our vision and our mission (see Foreword) summarize the three central sustainability pillars environment, people and sustainable management in clear statements. For us, they are a compass and set the direction for our sustainability course and the transformation process that has begun – both internally and externally. At the same time, they form the framework for the fields of action that we focus on in this report and that are essential for our company.
Identifying
essential sustainability topics
Jokey has been striving for more sustainability since the very beginning. We made attempts early on to promote circular thinking: for example by recycling our own production waste from manufacturing plastic packaging. Or by using recyclate buckets, which we launched on the market for the first time in 1991 – at that time with insufficient market acceptance. At the turn of the century, we designed our first internal sustainability strategy, which we then continued to develop further in the form of the Jokey Eco Concept. At its core, it was always about energy efficiency, resource-saving production and promoting true recycling economy. To this end, we have increasingly used our expert knowledge to network with other players. Early on, we were involved wherever collection systems, recycling economy and assumption of 360-degree responsibility were actively developed beyond our own products – in Germany and worldwide. In 2014, for example, we joined the Eco Design Round Table for plastic packaging. With the aim of making plastic packaging recyclable and at the same time meeting the challenge of ensuring supplies for more and more people worldwide. Constant exchange with many network partners, initiatives and industry associations has shown us again and again how important it is to act together and think outside the box in order to address sustainability issues and the fields of action derived from them. Because products can only be successful if the topics of climate protection, environmental protection, recycling economy and social responsibility are included along the entire value chain.
Our entire previous sustainability strategy has been put to the test in joint workshops with WWF Germany in the year under review. Focus is on the effects of our economic activities. For each of the identified topics, we ask ourselves what influence our actions have on the economy, ecology, people and their social cohesion. The goal is to make adjustments wherever we can and must improve. Derived from work packages created in workshops and as a result of ongoing stakeholder dialog, we have defined central fields of action for ourselves, which we focus on across the Group. In accordance with the Universal Standards 2021 of the Global Reporting Initiative, we have recorded and presented in more detail the topics relevant to us along our value chain. Five subject areas form the cornerstone for measuring progress within this report and thus determine the following report structure:
- Climate and energy
- Resources and recycling economy
- Product use and design
- People at Jokey
- Sustainable sourcing
To which SDGs we can contribute
Overview of the sustainability goals
When identifying and processing the main fields of action, we are guided by the 2030 Agenda, the future program adopted by the United Nations to promote SDGs. It is aimed at all actors from politics, business, science and civil society in the international community and calls on them to align their actions with economic, ecological and social aspects. Industrialized and emerging countries are playing a pioneering role in achieving the sustainability goals. Jokey is guided by these SDGs, will gradually integrate them into its holistic sustainability strategy and record the progress made in each case in the sustainability report. First, we focus on the following sustainability goals (SDGs):
SDG 3: Health protection and well-being of all people are central concerns here. Plastic packaging supports these aspects because it protects food and other valuable goods, such as from the health care sector, from spoilage, damage and contamination. Quality and hygiene are guaranteed even over long transport routes. Hazardous goods are also securely sealed in plastic packaging – to protect the environment and people. In everyday work, we pay attention to this SDG with our high standards of occupational safety and production conditions.
SDG 4: Access to quality education and lifelong learning opportunities create the basis for sustainable development. Jokey attaches great importance to high-quality training and further education. Donations also flow into educational projects, preferably in regions where our plants are located.
SDG 5: We generally strive for the goal of gender equality in all Jokey plants. In recent years, we have been able to fill a number of central management positions with women (see Appendix > Business metrics overview). Overall, we still see potential here.
SDG 8: Sustainable economic growth, full employment and decent work for all – as an international family business, we have anchored these aspects in our corporate values. Among other things, this is based on orientation towards the obligations of the Global Compact, Sedex auditing according to SMETA and our supplier assessment since 2022.
SDG 9: Jokey relies on innovation to promote stable infrastructure and sustainable industrialization. Whether climate targets, 360-degree projects such as closed loops or our Eco Design geared towards recycling economy – all Jokey Eco Concept fields of action contribute to this SDG, because it stands for a future-proof and sustainable business model.
SDG 12: Sustainable consumption and production patterns – Jokey is committed to recycling economy, which we want to promote wherever possible worldwide. All of our Eco Concept fields of action are geared towards this. At the strategy level, we pay in with a CO2 reduction path up to 2030. Eco Resources and Eco Design create the conditions for closed cycles at the product level.
SDG 13: Measures to combat climate change and its effects – the Jokey Eco Concept, with its fields of action geared towards CO2 reduction and recycling economy, also contributes to this SDG, as does our entire sustainability course with its goals up to 2030.
SDG 14: To protect the oceans, seas and their resources, we have joined various initiatives, including Waste Free Oceans. With Group-wide initiatives such as “Zero Pellet Loss” or Jokey Global Clean-up Day, we want to sensitize and actively support our employees, their private environment and the public to the topic of waste avoidance.
SDG 17: Global partnerships are essential to keep breathing new life into sustainable development. We believe that ecological and social challenges can only be solved if all members of the value chain work together. What applies to Jokey plants also applies to our networks: They are geared towards diversity. We are therefore open to people who think differently and seek dialog with critical stakeholders – including strategic partnership with WWF Germany.
The Jokey Eco Concept 3.0
Our sustainability programme
Seit 2017 haben wir ein eigenes Nachhaltigkeitsprogramm entwickelt, das sich zugleich als Aktionsplan auf dem Weg zu einer maximalen CO2- Minderung versteht. Als Work-in-Progress-Projekt bauen wir es systematisch weiter aus. Inzwischen liegt es als Eco Concept 3.0 in der dritten Generation vor. Seit der ersten Auflage des Eco Concepts hat Jokey seine Produkte durch kontinuierliche Entwicklung, auch in der engen Zusammenarbeit mit seinen Kunden, immer weiter den Anforderungen der Kreislaufwirtschaft angepasst. Ebenso haben wir uns in der Zusammenarbeit mit dem WWF Deutschland das Ziel gesetzt, langfristig das 1,5-Grad-Ziel des Pariser Klimaabkommens zu erreichen. Diese noch einmal verstärkten Ambitionen hin zu mehr Klimaschutz und Verantwortung gegenüber Mensch und Natur spiegeln sich sowohl in unserer Mission und Vision als auch in einem stetig erweiterten Jokey Eco Concept wider. Das ganzheitliche Programm trägt dazu bei, unseren Umweltfußabdruck von der Herstellung bis zum Endverbraucher weiter zu verringern. Es basiert auf drei Säulen: Eco Strategy, Eco Resources und Eco Design.
Die ersten drei Handlungsfelder beziehen sich auf die Übernahme von Produktverantwortung. Unser Ziel ist es, als Unternehmen einen maximalen CO2-Reduktionspfad zu entwickeln und bis 2030 als Zwischenziel aktiv umzusetzen. Hierzu haben wir zahlreiche Maßnahmen auf den Weg gebracht (see following chapter “Our goals”). Die übrigen Handlungsfelder des Eco Concepts beschreiben auf der Produktebene, welchen vorsorglichen Beitrag Material und Design der Jokey Verpackungen zur Lösung von Umweltproblemen und zur Entwicklung umweltfreundlicher Technologien bereits heute leisten.
The entire Jokey Eco Concept with detailed descriptions of all 10 fields of action can be found here.
Our goals
Differentiated according to fields of action
Through the strategic and transformative partnership with WWF Germany, we are sending a strong signal to achieve the 1.5 degree target of the Paris Climate Agreement in the long term and actively promote recycling economy for plastics with a focus on packaging. The Jokey Eco Concept contains our complete sustainability program and is based on three pillars:
Its fields of action give us an orientation for continuing to adapt our products to sustainable recycling economy requirements. In this way we can constantly reduce the ecological footprint from production to the end consumer. We have set specific goals for each pillar.
Eco Strategy
The Jokey goals in the area of Eco Strategy at a glance
- Circular thinking and raising awareness for holistic ecological sustainability throughout the Jokey Group
- Transforming all relevant production processes and infrastructures to use circular raw materials
- Supporting the establishment of an effective recycling economy
Eco Resources
Jokey goals in the area of Eco Resources at a glance
- Long-term use of new plastics only where there are no ecologically sensible alternatives
- All packaging raw materials used must be able to be assigned to a recyclable collection flow
- Exchanging or replacing auxiliary and operating materials with recycling alternatives
Eco Design
Jokey goals in the area of Eco Design at a glance
- Medium-term discontinuation of ecologically unsound product solutions, alternative development of reuse solutions
- All products are technically recyclable in full and of high quality
