Sustainability
Eckert & Ziegler is committed to aligning its business activities sustainably with a balanced relationship between economic, social and ecological aspects. This is the only way we can ensure the long-term success of the company.
Environment
Protecting the environment is an important goal for Eckert & Ziegler. With our actions, our processes and our products, we recognise our responsibility for people, the environment and the future. From the manufacture to the disposal of our products, we are committed to conserving resources and recycling. By retrieving used radiation sources and reprocessing them for new products, Eckert & Ziegler makes an important contribution to environmental protection.
The Company Group only processes relatively small amounts of materials in its products and is therefore considered a low emitter of carbon dioxide in principle. Due to the short half-lives, transport routes must also be kept short, regardless of the costs. Unnecessary journeys back and forth are eliminated. Above all, however, all energy-intensive raw materials are produced in a climate-neutral manner, as Eckert & Ziegler obtains most of its raw materials from the operators of nuclear reactors. The raw material germanium-68, the starting product for our gallium generators, is produced in nuclear reactors, as is the iodine-125 for our prostate cancer implants. Even in countries where the carbon dioxide problem is less of an issue, our suppliers naturally use their own reactors to generate electricity. The Executive Board is therefore convinced that Eckert & Ziegler is one of the most climate-friendly companies in the chemical-pharmaceutical industry when considering the entire value chain.
Governance
The Eckert & Ziegler Company Group operates its business responsibly and in accordance with the legal provisions and official regulations of the countries in which the company operates. The Group’s Executive Board is fully committed to the legal and company-specific regulations for responsible and lawful behaviour, as well as to refraining from any business that is contrary to the principles set out below.
The Eckert & Ziegler Group respects the applicable law and expects the same from its employees and business partners. Eckert & Ziegler has a transnational code of conduct and a compliance management system based on it, which is binding for all employees of the Group and specifies key areas of particular practical relevance. All employees receive annual compliance training. This is intended to ensure that responsible behaviour is permanently anchored in the way employees think and act. Breaches of ethical rules, laws and regulations are not only incompatible with our values, they also damage our reputation and undermine the trust of our employees, business partners and shareholders. In order to maintain this trust, misconduct must therefore be recognised at an early stage. Eckert & Ziegler offers an external ombudsman’s office for reporting violations, to which information can be reported anonymously.
Social
Our employees are Eckert & Ziegler’s most valuable resource. We therefore attach great importance to an attractive working environment, fair working conditions, a good working atmosphere and treating each other with respect. In order to achieve a good work-life balance for all employees, we offer flexible working time models and mobile working.
As a global company, Eckert & Ziegler brings together a large number of people from different backgrounds and promotes diversity and equal treatment regardless of ethnic or social origin, gender, skin colour, religion, sexual orientation, disability or age. Protecting employees from work-related hazards is a top priority at Eckert & Ziegler. Although companies with industrial use of ionising radiation or radionuclides have the lowest hazard class of all branches of the chemical industry (source: BG RCI, Annual Report 2022), Eckert & Ziegler would still like to further reduce the very low accident figures compared to other industrial companies. The company is working on this together with the responsible authorities and the employers’ liability insurance associations. Outside the company, Eckert & Ziegler is committed to early childhood science education and supports the activities of the Life Science Learning Lab in Berlin-Buch.