Nothing beats Climate Action

It's five to twelve! We all know that. As a company, we are serious about climate protection - and therefore have ambitious goals. We focus on science-based targets, sustainability ratings and renewable energies. But where exactly do we currently stand? In this article, we present our 2023 sustainability performance in the area of climate.

We want to drastically reduce our emissions. To do this, we need to turn many different screws throughout the company - and work closely with our business partners and suppliers. Of course, we need the efforts of all employees to achieve this. One thing is clear to us: Nothing beats climate action. 

Full transparency through climate targets and ratings

In 2023, we achieved some major milestones in the area of climate action. We now have Science Based Targets in place to reduce our emissions. Their confirmation by the independent Science Based Targets Initiative is definitely one of the highlights of the past year. Science Based Targets are science-based climate targets that are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. We have set ourselves ambitious targets in all three scopes. We are now working flat out to achieve these targets.

• Scope 1 covers direct emissions from sources directly owned or controlled by our organisation, such as emissions from combustion processes.
• Scope 2 refers to indirect emissions caused by the purchase of electricity, steam, cooling or heat outside our organisation.
• Scope 3 covers all other indirect emissions that arise from activities outside our organisation, such as the production and transport of purchased goods and services or the use and disposal of our products.

Our science-based targets

• We have set ourselves the target of reducing our absolute Scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions by 60 per cent by 2030 (base year 2021).
• We are also committed to reducing our absolute Scope 3 CO2 emissions from fuel- and energy-related activities, upstream and downstream transport and distribution as well as the end-of-life treatment of products sold by 25 per cent by 2030.
• In addition, 80 per cent of our suppliers are also to have science-based targets by 2027, measured in terms of the emissions from the goods and services they purchase. 

Another success was achieving an A rating in the area of climate on the CDP platform in 2023. Our goal was an A rating by 2024, which we have already achieved. Of course, we will not rest on our laurels and will continue to intensify our efforts.

Focus on renewable energies

We know that nothing will work without renewable energies in the future. We currently have a 50 per cent share of renewable electricity and our target is 100 per cent by 2030. Our share of self-generated renewable electricity is 0.44 per cent, with a target of 2.5 per cent by 2030.

Numerous measures were taken in 2023 to get closer to our energy targets. In 2023, we started to develop a Group-wide energy procurement strategy and each division now has division-specific energy targets to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption. We also completed the installation of a total of eight photovoltaic systems in Austria in 2023.