Oechsler AG earns EcoVadis Gold, commits to SBTi climate targets
Oechsler AG, located in Ansbach, Germany, has been awarded the Gold Medal in the EcoVadis sustainability rating, placing it among the top 5% of assessed companies worldwide and among the best 2% in the industry. At the same time, Oechsler has committed to the climate targets of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which is aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
The initiative is a partnership between the Carbon Disclosure Project, the United Nations Global Compact, the World Resources Institute, and the World Wide Fund for Nature. It calls on companies worldwide to significantly reduce their carbon footprint by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Oechsler scored 78 out of 100 points in the EcoVadis rating, ranking it among the top 5% of companies in the global benchmark over the past twelve months – narrowly missing Platinum status. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been an integral part of the company’s holistic strategy for years. Accordingly, Oechsler’s environmental and energy management systems are certified to ISO 14001 and ISO 50001. This strong result reflects and recognises the company’s long-standing commitment.
The company will continue to set ambitious, science-based targets for reducing CO₂ emissions. The next step is to define concrete reduction goals and have them validated by SBTi, an independent body.
Oechsler has pledged to significantly cut emissions across its entire value chain under its near-term climate targets. By 2034, the company has committed to cutting its direct CO₂ emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 58.8%. For all upstream and downstream processes (Scope 3), Oechsler has committed to lowering CO₂ emissions per ton of product produced by an even greater margin – 63.8%.
Karl Ostler, CEO of the Oechsler Group, shared, “We are extremely proud of our outstanding EcoVadis result. It also proves that sustainable business practices and maintaining our competitiveness are by no means mutually exclusive. Many companies worldwide use independent ratings such as EcoVadis to decide which business partners they can trust. Together with our employees, we want to continue making a meaningful contribution to decarbonisation. Committing to the SBTi criteria is therefore a logical step – and continues the path we embarked on several years ago.”
As part of a resource-intensive industry, the company has already invested millions in sustainability initiatives. In 2023, a solar power plant with an annual capacity of 2,000 megawatt hours was installed at the company’s production site in Weißenburg, Bavaria, reportedly enough to cover the annual electricity needs of 640 average two-person households in Germany. Additional solar installations are already in operation at Oechsler sites in Mexico, Romania, and China.
In manufacturing, the company has invested in highly energy-efficient, fully electric injection molding machines, which achieve around 30% energy savings compared to conventional fully hydraulic machines.
Since this year, Oechsler has been sourcing 100% green electricity at all of its global production sites. Furthermore, the global plastics solutions provider has shifted its energy procurement at all three German locations, as of January 1, 2025, from traditional full supply contracts to a dynamic industrial power model. A large share of its electricity is purchased through a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for wind energy, with the remaining demand covered on an hourly basis via the spot market of the electricity exchange.
