Worlée is fully aware of its social responsibility. Compliance with laws and binding regulations is a matter of course for us. Given the increasing complexity of an ever more globalized economy, the importance of responsible actions in our daily business continues to grow. With this understanding, we commit to interacting ethically, environmentally responsibly, and socially just with all parties in the supply chains. Worlée goes far beyond legal requirements in this regard.
As part of the "Chemie³" sustainability initiative, Worlée-Chemie participated in the "Sustainability in the Supply Chain" project and contributed to the creation of twelve guidelines designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the chemical industry in establishing sustainable supply chain management.
During the project, we gained practical experience in identifying sustainability aspects within supply chains and conducted risk analyses for individual value creation phases. Since then, we have required all relevant suppliers to undergo an EcoVadis assessment, which considers criteria such as the environment, labor practices and human rights, fair business practices, and sustainable sourcing.
Our commitment has already been recognized with numerous awards and accolades:
- Environmental Award of the Economy by the Study and Promotion Society of the Schleswig-Holstein Business Association in 2000 and 2010
- From 2003 to 2016, six placements among the top 3 in the Responsible Care competition of the Chemical Industry Association – Regional Association North
- Since 2010, the first chemical company in the prestigious circle of climate protection companies in German business
- Bronze at the Surface Technology Award "Die Oberfläche 2012," presented by the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and Automation (IPA) in Stuttgart, in cooperation with Messe Stuttgart and Deutsche Messe.
Worlée NaturProdukte has successfully passed the Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) and has been a member of the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX) since 2009. SEDEX is an organization of companies committed to improving ethical behavior in business. Through a web-based database, information about local labor practices is disclosed. This allows us to provide maximum transparency, and we expect the same from our suppliers.
Since the beginning of our membership, we have been continuously working to improve our ethical business practices. Since 2012, Worlée has been regularly audited according to the four pillars of SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit). The last audit was successfully passed in 2019. In addition to labor conditions and health and safety standards, this audit also examines compliance with ethical environmental and business practices.
For Worlée NaturProdukte, the written Code of Conduct serves as a guideline and orientation. Its signing by suppliers is our basic requirement for collaboration. We assess our suppliers' compliance with the Code of Conduct and identify potential risks based on the country and industry risks associated with each supplier. Additionally, we use self-disclosures from our suppliers on the Sedex online platform.
You can find our Codes of Conduct at the following links:
We view the protection of human rights and the environment as part of our corporate due diligence. In 2017, Worlée-Chemie updated and published its "Code of Conduct for Suppliers." Since then, our suppliers have been asked to acknowledge this code. Our goal is to obtain a binding commitment to its implementation from all parties, including technical suppliers and service providers.
