Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time. Addressing climate change requires action by all key stakeholders, including policymakers, the private sector, communities, and civil society. We at Henkel are committed to achieving the 1.5-degree target of the Paris Climate Agreement. We are constantly striving to cut the carbon footprint of our production activities, and we develop products and technologies that generate less emissions when they are used. But reducing emissions is not enough for Henkel: we want to make an active contribution to climate protection and help others to reduce their emissions, too.
Ulrike Sapiro, Chief Sustainability Officer at Henkel:
“We have developed long-term ambitions as part of our sustainability strategy. One of these ambitions is to become climate-positive in our operations already by 2030 – ten years earlier than initially planned.”
Henkel 2030+ Sustainability Ambition:
• Climate-positive operations – 100% renewable energy by 2030
One of our main set goals is to source 100 percent renewable energy in our own operations by 2030, in line with SBTi guidelines. Production sites will become climate-positive when surplus CO2-free energy that Henkel does need any more for its own purposes is supplied to third parties.
• CO2 reduction - reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 65% by 2025
Another SBTi-approved target we are pursuing is achieving a 65-percent reduction per ton of product in our production sites’ carbon footprint. We are taking steps to cut energy consumption at all our sites worldwide: designing sustainable factories, improving energy efficiency, and switching to renewable energy.
• Helping consumers and customers reduce CO2 emissions
The product use phase has the greatest impact on our CO2 footprint, especially in consumer business. Our products are used millions of times a day in households and industrial processes. Accordingly, our goal is to work with our customers, consumers and suppliers to save 100 million metric tons of CO2 over the ten-year period from 2016 to 2025. Our expertise in materials and our scientific knowledge allow us to develop products that deliver emissions savings so that our customers can achieve their sustainability goals. In addition, we want our products and technologies to help avoid CO2 emissions from being generated, e.g. we create laundry detergents and cleaning products that work well at lower temperatures. On top of this, we use targeted communications activities such as “BeSmarter” or “It Starts With Us” to encourage consumers to save energy and recycle.
Partnerships for Action
Partnerships are a crucial part of our sustainability journey, since it’s with them that we can unfold our best potential. To achieve that, we focus on collaborating with partners and being a trusted partner ourselves by delivering best-in-class product performance and chemical safety and providing transparent reporting on our processes and policies. In the following, you will find some relevant examples:
• “Together for Sustainability” initiative was introduced in 2011, by Henkel together with 5 other chemical companies. Today, consisting of 40 members, it aims to harmonize increasingly complex supply chain management processes with regard to sustainability and to optimize dialog among worldwide business partners.
• Since 2017, Henkel has been partnering with Plastic Bank to address the global challenge of a circular economy. The idea behind Plastic Bank is to reduce plastic waste in nature as well as providing new opportunities for people living in poverty. In 2022, we continued to support Plastic Bank’s commitment in Egypt to expand the local recycling infrastructure.
• Working together with Solidaridad, Henkel supports sustainable practices in the palm oil industry along its value chain and improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Contributing to sustainable forest management and preventing deforestations accounts for around 15% of GHG emissions.
• In 2021, Henkel partnered with cosmetics companies Unilever, LVMH, L’Oréal and Natura to establish Eco Beauty Score Consortium, a scoring-system that assesses the environmental impact of cosmetics products, with the goal of making it easier for consumers to make sustainable shopping decisions.
For more detailed information, please visit: Climate Protection Strategy and Targets, Climate Positive, Sustainable Palm (Kernel) Oil and our Sustainability Report.
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