Sustainability as an opportunity

We accept responsibility for the future of our planet: In November 2021, we adopted a climate strategy with ambitious, science-based climate protection targets.

Our goal: 70% fewer emissions in Scope 1 and Scope 2

In our climate strategy, we have set ourselves the target of reducing the environmental footprint of our own locations, i.e. our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, by 70% by 2030 compared to the 2019 base-year level. This is to be achieved primarily by investing in climate-friendly technologies and buildings, by switching to electricity from fully renewable energy sources, and by generating our own renewable energies. Because: The guiding theme of our new climate strategy is “invest rather than compensate.” Instead of compensating emissions by payments, we prefer to invest in climate-friendly technologies such as photovoltaics in order to minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

Our goal: 15% fewer emissions in our upstream and downstream value chain (Scope 3)

As a machine and plant manufacturer, our greatest leverage for reducing greenhouse gas emissions is to reduce the energy consumption of our machines and systems in the downstream value chain. In our climate strategy, we have set ourselves the target of reducing emissions from the upstream and downstream value chain by at least 15% by 2030 compared to the base year 2019. This depends to a large extent on the willingness of customers to use resource-conserving, energy-efficient and low-emission technologies offered by us.

In addition, emissions from our machines and systems can be reduced considerably if green electricity instead of gas and conventional electricity is used for operation. Therefore, the electrification of our products is one focus of our R&D agenda.

In the future, we also intend to increasingly work toward climate protection with our suppliers (upstream supply chain) and are developing a program that offers financial incentives for suppliers with climate-friendly processes. In logistics, more goods transports are to be shifted from road to rail and transports by air freight are to be avoided wherever possible. In addition, the carbon footprint of logistics partners is to play a role when awarding contracts.

Our sustainable products and services are characterized by reliability, efficiency and resource conservation. With our technologies, we help customers achieve their sustainability and climate protection goals and reduce their environmental footprint. As a global innovation and technology leader, we set standards and use the trend toward digitalization as an opportunity to drive efficiency and resource conservation in production.

We not only see ourselves as a part of society, but also want to actively and effectively shape it. It is therefore a matter of course for us to support a wide range of different projects in the fields of education, sports, social affairs and culture that benefit society and make a real difference — at our locations and around the world. In 2021, we donated a total of €867 thousand to social causes.

Our donations included…

• €200 thousand to help people affected by the devastating floods in Germany in July 2021
  Find out more in our Dürr & More article → “Helping Hands”
• €50 thousand to UNICEF as part of the Christmas campaign “Donations instead of presents”
• €25 thousand to the town of Bietigheim-Bissingen for the purchase of tablets for high schools, thus helping to enable students without their own digital devices to participate in remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic