The GSA honors pioneers of sustainability in German economy. We are looking for companies of all sizes and from all industries that take responsibility and use transformation as a business opportunity.
Successful solutions to the challenges of sustainability exist in all sectors. Now it's a matter of taking them to the next level. Therefore, from 2023 onwards, the GSA will award the pioneers in 100 industries - based on intensive research of publicly available information with the help of AI and applications.
150 expert jurors from research, associations, consulting and civil society have decided - the pioneers of sustainability in 100 industries of the German economy have been selected. These are the 100 companies that, from the experts' point of view, have made particularly effective, successful and exemplary contributions to the transformation in their industries and have become - or should become - role models. They represent a joint effort that unites rather than divides all companies in a sector. They can be found on the industry sub-pages available only in German language.
The winners will be communicated in a special supplement of the GSA in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (issue of 31.10.2023) and other measures.
Guests on Thursday, 23 November 2023, during the day at the congress and in the evening at the award ceremony in the MARITIM Hotel: the CEOs and sustainability managers of the 100 pioneering companies from all sectors, prominent laudators, guests of honour from business and civil society and around 120 media representatives.
The 100 winners will receive their trophies; in addition, those five winners who have achieved particularly exemplary performance in the five transformation fields of climate, resources, nature and value chain/society will receive separate awards.
Tickets for the award ceremony are now available for purchase. Everything you need to know about the new methodology can be found below on this page or in detail here. Here you will find a list of all members of the expert juries.
100 industries.
Transformation is industry-specific. Each company and business model is covered and assigned to a sector and industry. Applicants classify themselves according to their core business and sales focus. The subdivision is derived from the ISIC, WZ and NACE classifications.
More about the industry classification
Application and research.
Companies no longer fill out an application form, but create their sustainability profile in line with the new EU reporting framework (CSRD/ESRS). In addition, there is room for additional information for the jury. In parallel, AI-supported sustainability profiles are created for thousands of companies in all industries through research in sustainability reports, publications, codes/indices and rankings.
Sustainability profiles.
Each company is assessed on the basis of its sustainability profile. It maps the key challenges facing the industry in question in the fields of climate, resources, nature, value chain and society. The profile makes highlights among the measures of each company visible, and increases comparability in an industry through uniform criteria. Applicants fill it out, for researched companies it is created by the research partners. No costs are incurred.
More about the sustainability profiles
Specially developed scoring system.
From all the profiles, the research partner's scoring system identifies the companies with particularly effective, innovative and exemplary contributions to transformation, the pioneers in each industry. Based on a 6-stage evaluation methodology, a ranking is created in each of the 100 industries.
Expert juries for all industries.
Independent expert juries for all industries nominate 10 pioneers in each industry. The four- to five-member panels include representatives from industry practice, civil society, consulting and research. The nominees/leaders can update or supplement their profile. The expert juries then decide on the top 3 (finalists) and the winner in each of the 100 sectors.
Role models of transformation.
The sector analysis is followed by an overarching perspective according to transformation fields. In addition to the industry pioneers, the GSA - together with the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, among others - awards cross-sectoral prizes to those companies from the 100 winners that have made particularly important and exemplary contributions in the transformation fields assigned to them. The assessment partners evaluate; the GSA's corporate jury decides.
More about the award by transformation fields
Everything you need to know about the new methodology in detail.
Read here our FAQs
By acquiring the GSA-seal, successful participants in the competition can document their top position in the field of sustainability - in the direction of customers, suppliers, the media and the financial world. The GSA-seal is a renowned external recognition, makes the pioneers recognizable and ensures a head start in the market. The GSA-seal gives consumers orientation in their search for sustainable alternatives.
Successful transformation concepts deserve attention right now, and the finalists deserve appreciation. The winners will receive their awards in front of guests from the business community, local governments, politics, research and civil society. It is their evening in the spirit of respect for the different paths to the same great goal.
The GSA's research partner for companies is the Berlin-based startup score4more. It specializes in creating differentiated sustainability profiles of companies and evaluating them, after the founders previously accompanied the GSA for more than ten years and contributed significantly to the methodological development of the company competition. score4more will provide the digital architecture for research across all sectors and industries and the resulting company profiles from 2023.
Companies of any size, whether reporting or not, can create their profiles free of charge and thus use the platform to apply for the GSA. score4more has also developed the sector-specific scoring approach, which allows companies to be compared and rated. The GSA uses score4more's technological platform to map and evaluate thousands of companies, measures and key performance indicator values in the competition and to determine the pioneers of sustainability in Germany via transparent jury processes.
Since 2008, success in the GSA has rewarded and motivated the participating companies. Nomination, participation in the finals and the award have a powerful effect on the companies; they strengthen the sustainability managers and their teams. The successful participants also benefit from their success externally. They are intensively involved in the reporting of the GSA Foundation and its cooperation and media partners and use good results for their own press and public relations work.
