"Sustainability is of strategic importance to Festo. It is an excellent motivation for us to be honoured with such a high-ranking award," says Dr Oliver Jung, Chairman of the Management Bord of Festo. Julia Bikidis, Head of Sustainability, is also proud: "We are delighted to receive this award, especially because it confirms our holistic approach. We are focussing on climate protection and people and are fulfilling our responsibility in doing so. The award recognises the work of many hands and shows that we are on the right track."

The 140 jurors of the DNP chose the companies that they believe are leading the sustainable transformation in their industries this year and gave the following reasons for honouring Festo. "The family-owned company Festo is active in the automation sector and is doing everything it can to help shape the transformation of industrial production. The company aims to be completely CO₂-neutral by 2026 and is continuously optimising its energy efficiency and waste recycling. Ethical principles and an inclusive and supportive working environment are fundamental values for Festo."

"Sustainability is reflected in our daily work, our buildings and our products. We have created a sustainable framework for ourselves and our customers. The Festo Group will therefore be CO₂ neutral from 2024 – two years earlier than planned. We work in diverse and motivated teams to find the best and most efficient solution for our customers. This starts with the design of the customer solution: we want to avoid any kind of waste, such as oversizing, through transparency in our design tools. An explicit shopping basket of products with energy-saving functions, such as automatic switch-off in standby situations, also contributes to this. Our learning programme rounds off the framework: Without people making the right decisions, we will not be able to design sustainable solutions. We therefore see the sustainable transformation as a shared journey with all our employees, customers and suppliers," says Julia Bikidis.

This is the 16th time that the DNP has honoured pioneering contributions to the transformation towards a sustainable future. It uses the best examples to show how ecological and social progress can be achieved more quickly.