ST. GALLEN, Switzerland—Gallus Ferd. Rüesch AG today announced a landmark pledge to make its products carbon neutral by the end of 2022—which once certified, is likely to see it become one of the first narrow web press manufacturer to meet this important milestone. In addition to strengthening its focus on economic, social and environmental responsibility—which includes actively working to reduce harmful carbon emissions, company-wide—Gallus has partnered with climate solutions specialist, Forliance, to offset the remaining emissions from its production process and help achieve its target within an ambitious timeline.
Gallus’s comprehensive sustainability program is already ISO 14001 certified, the international standard for environmental management systems, which ensures that organizations meet their legal obligations, adopting environmentally sound processes and taking a responsible approach to environmental management. Michael Sahm, director climate change strategy, Forliance, commented: “Climate change is increasingly becoming a stress test for print manufacturers and their business models—and for some, it’s one of their biggest challenges they face. But a well-planned corporate climate solution can turn climate change-related risks and headaches into tangible opportunities. For Gallus, we’re confident that we have the right strategy in place to meet its objectives by following the Kyoto protocol gold standard. This will ensure a meaningful environmental change for the business, its customers, and lay the foundations for future aspirations.”
With production facilities in Switzerland and Germany, Gallus manufacturers a wide portfolio of conventional and digital narrow web, reel-fed presses designed for the label and packaging business. The company employs around 300 people worldwide, with more than 1,250 customers and more than 3,800 presses in the field. With such a dynamic business and diverse portfolio, the first project objective is to explore the way in which these presses are manufactured and calculate the related carbon emissions—assessing each step in the production process, from design and material selection to energy consumption and packaging. The plan is then to compensate for the resulting CO2 emissions, adhering to the gold standard offsetting program. At the same time, a team is driving the company’s decarbonization through increased energy efficiency and the use of renewable energies to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions.
Dario Urbinati, chief sales and service officer, Gallus Group, commented: “As a business, we recognize that there really is no time to waste in bringing sustainability to the top of the agenda. It’s critical that we address our environmental impact with the same expertise, dedication, meticulousness and speed that we do our print solutions. What’s more, we must ensure that we provide our customers and wider brands with the same confidence in our sustainability credentials as we do for every other aspect of our service.
“Over the last 10 months we’ve worked in alignment with Heidelberg’s corporate environmental program. This has been built into the business at a practical level, enabling us to make conscious, informed decisions as to resourcing, management of facilities and to how we design and manufacture our presses. But we need to do more. So, while we are still at the start of this journey, ensuring that our products are carbon neutral in the future will be an important step in demonstrating our ambitions,” continued Urbinati.
In 2023, Gallus celebrates its 100th year in operation. In addition to its sustainability program, the business has a number of other transformative projects lined up to not only realize a new vision for its future, but to cement its next century of successful business and to effect positive change in the wider industry.
Dr. Frank Schaum, CEO Gallus Group, concluded: “As we move forward into this new evolutionary phase of our business, our focus is on doing everything we can to build a more positive, sustainable future for the print and packaging market. The approach of the company’s centenary year has provided the ideal opportunity to reevaluate our processes and realign our priorities so that we are now making conscious, purposeful strides towards bringing this vision into reality.”