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An effective climate protection strategy is essential for companies, as climate change is not only a global challenge but also has a significant impact on the economy. There is a need to minimise the environmental impact and adapt to changing environmental conditions. A sound climate protection strategy not only enables companies to reduce their environmental impact, but also to meet the requirements of regulatory authorities and consumers. It comprises a range of measures and initiatives aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, using resources more efficiently and minimising the company's environmental footprint.

With the introduction of our climate protection strategy, the management has made a clear commitment to sustainability and environmental protection. We support the goals of the Paris Agreement and the EU Green Deal and have developed specific targets, measures and timetables for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We will transparently report on our progress towards achieving the set targets.

Goals of the climate protection strategy

With regard to the overarching goal of Net Zero, we have set ourselves ambitious science-based interim targets that we are working on.

1. By 2030, we want to reduce our on-site CO₂ emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2) by 46 % compared to the base year 2019
2. By 2035, we want to achieve net zero emissions at our headquarters
3. By 2050, we want to achieve net zero emissions across the entire Group

Measuring and reducing emissions from our supply chain (Scope 3) is also on our agenda.

Measures to achieve our targets

We have already initiated various measures to achieve our ambitious climate protection targets. These include, among others:

• Reducing our own direct emissions (Scope 1) by continuously improving energy efficiency
• Conversion of our company vehicles to e-cars
• Reducing indirect emissions from energy procurement by switching our German sites to green electricity and, where possible, installing PV systems
• Reducing the amount of waste through internal waste management and supporting the circular economy

In addition to Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, we also look at the emissions and general environmental impact along our supply chain, which fall under Scope 3. The majority of our products are already produced with bio-based materials, which means we are contributing to defossilisation. In addition, we are supporting the transition from fossil to renewable carbons for organic chemicals and materials and are continuously reviewing bio-based, recycled or CO₂-based alternatives for our few raw materials that are not yet bio-based. We also make sure that we use sustainably certified qualities that have a significantly lower footprint compared to conventional material.

Monitoring the achievement of objectives

The recording and measurability of actions to achieve targets are essential for valid monitoring. We monitor target achievement as part of our carbon management. To this end, we record the emissions from our locations and calculate our corporate carbon footprint every year. The calculation is based on the GHG Protocol standard and includes Scope 1, 2 and 3 (upstream). 

The calculation system has been audited by an independent external institute.

Target achievement level for savings of 46%, target year 2030: 52%
Degree of target achievement for net zero emissions at the headquarters, target year 2035: 38%

Reporting

Our target commitments are published on the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) website. We report annually on our progress in achieving our targets on our website and to interested stakeholders via the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and Ecovadis platforms.