Pioneer in EU Taxonomy
The Dürr Group sees the shift toward greater sustainability as an opportunity. With the Taxonomy Regulation, the European Union (EU) has developed a classification system for environmentally sustainable economic activities, thus creating uniform criteria for companies.
Climate neutral European Union by 2050
With the European Green Deal, the European Union (EU) has set itself the goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050. In order to finance this goal and to make the economic and financial system in the EU more sustainable, capital flows are to be directed toward sustainable investments. To this end, the European Commission has developed the Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth. The core element of this action plan is the EU Taxonomy Regulation.
More information on the EU Taxonomy in the Dürr Group
Background and Goals
The core element of the action plan is the EU Taxonomy Regulation. It represents a uniform classification system – a “green list” – for sustainable economic activities. According to the EU Taxonomy Regulation, economic activities are “taxonomy-eligible” if they potentially contribute to the achievement of one of the following six environmental objectives:
1. Climate change mitigation
2. Climate change adaption
3. Sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources
4. Transition to a circular economy
5. Pollution prevention and control
6. Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems
In addition, economic activities are “environmentally sustainable” or “taxonomy-aligned” according to the taxonomy specifications, if the taxonomy-eligible economic activities
- substantially contribute to the achievement of one or more of the six environmental objectives listed (Substantial Contribution)
- do not significantly harm the achievement of the five other environmental objectives (Do No Significant Harm, DNSH), and
- ensure compliance with minimum safeguards (Minimum Safeguards).
Implementation of the Taxonomy requirements
Assignment of economic activities to relevant taxonomy criteria
The following economic activities defined by the EU Taxonomy have been identified for the recognition and assignment of the Dürr Group’s sales revenues, CapEx, and OpEx to the first environmental objective “climate change mitigation”:
- 3.1 Manufacture of renewable energy technologies
- 3.6 Manufacture of other low carbon technologies
- 3.21 Manufacture of aircraft
- 4.11 Storage of thermal energy
For the 2023 fiscal year, further economic activities have been identified for the recognition and assignment of taxonomy-eligible CapEx and OpEx of the Dürr Group for the first environmental objective “climate change mitigation”:
- 6.5 Transport by motorbikes, passenger cars, and light commercial vehicles
- 7.3 Installation, maintenance and repair of energy efficiency equipment
- 7.4 Installation, maintenance and repair of charging stations for electric vehicles in buildings (and parking spaces attached to buildings)
- 7.6 Installation, maintenance and repair of renewable energy technologies
- 7.7 Acquisition and ownership of buildings
Three prerequisites for environmentally sustainable economic activities
1. Substantial Contribution
Compliance with the criteria for a substantial contribution to the first environmental objective, “climate change mitigation,” which is relevant to the Dürr Group, was assessed individually for each taxonomy-eligible business activity of the Dürr Group. In the analyses conducted, no economic activity was identified that makes a substantial contribution to the remaining five environmental objectives.
For the 2023 fiscal year, the following business activities of the Dürr Group have been identified for the recognition and assignment of taxonomy-eligible sales revenues, CapEx, and OpEx.
2. Do no significant harm (DNSH)
Furthermore, we analyzed whether the achievement of the five remaining EU environmental objectives is significantly harmed by the business activities listed above. For this purpose, it was appropriate to regularly assess DNSH compliance at the level of the business activities and at the level of the Dürr Group’s locations. The locations assessed as relevant were those which accounted for significant value-adding processes for taxonomy-eligible business activities or environmentally sustainable CapEx and OpEx in the 2023 fiscal year. Subsequently, a comparison was made with the DNSH criteria for the selected locations.
As a result, we have not identified any significant harm to the achievement of the five other environmental objectives at any relevant location. For further information, please refer to our → Annual Report 2023.
3. Compliance with Minimum Safeguards
The Dürr Group is committed to respecting human rights and promoting fair working conditions. This applies in particular to dealings with its own employees and direct suppliers. Our actions are guided by the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP), and the Core Labor Standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO), among others. In the 2023 fiscal year, we again reviewed compliance with these guiding principles and standards in our business activities across the Group, focusing on the following areas: respect for human and employee rights, combating bribery and corruption, taxation, and (fair) competition.
The result showed that our Group-wide processes and systems are suited to reliably identify potential risks or violations at our locations worldwide.
Performance indicators according to the EU Taxonomy Regulation
In the following, we provide information on our Group-wide taxonomy-eligible and taxonomy-aligned sales revenues, CapEx, and OpEx in accordance with the EU Taxonomy for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years. Taking into account the technical screening criteria, it is possible that taxonomy-eligible and taxonomy-aligned sales revenues and CapEx differ in their results. Taxonomy-eligible and taxonomy-aligned OpEx of the Dürr Group, on the other hand, regularly correspond to each other.
| Taxonomy-eligible share 2023 (%) | Taxonomy-aligned share 2023 (%) | Taxonomy-eligible share 2022 (%) | Taxonomy-aligned share 2022 (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales revenues | 18.4 | 16.1 | 16.8 | 16.8 |
| CapEx | 35.0 | 13.4 | 54.0 | 24.3 |
| OpEx | 11.5 | 11.5 | 9.3 | 9.3 |
Sales revenues
In the 2023 fiscal year, taxonomy-eligible sales revenues amounted to €850.2 million (previous year: €726.6 million). Compared to the previous year, taxonomy-aligned sales revenues increased by 2.5% to €744.8 million (previous year: €726.6 million). This was due in particular to activities in the context of economic activity “3.6 Manufacture of other low carbon technologies.” The Dürr Group recorded a significant increase in demand in the areas of battery manufacturing technology and painting technology. The share of taxonomy-eligible sales revenues increased to 18.4% in the 2023 fiscal year (previous year: 16.8%), with the share of taxonomy-aligned sales revenues slightly below the previous year’s level at 16.1% (previous year: 16.8%). The main reason for this was a decline in sales in the solid-wood manufacturing sector, which had achieved record sales in the previous year.
CapEx
Taxonomy-eligible CapEx amounted to €123.4 million in the 2023 fiscal year (previous year: €74.9 million). Of this, €47.2 million (previous year: €33.7 million) met the criteria of the EU Taxonomy Regulation for taxonomy-aligned CapEx. The increase is primarily due to expenditure for the current investment program at HOMAG and the new building for BENZ in Gengenbach, which are assigned to economic activity “7.7 Acquisition and ownership of buildings.” In addition, capitalized development costs in the areas of battery production technology and painting technology as well as investments in the solid-wood manufacturing sector caused an increase in environmentally sustainable CapEx in the context of economic activity “3.6 Manufacture of other low carbon technologies.”
OpEx
As in the previous year, taxonomy-eligible OpEx corresponded to taxonomy-aligned OpEx, amounting to €16.5 million in the 2023 fiscal year. This is equivalent to an increase of €3.6 million compared to fiscal year 2022. The taxonomy-eligible or taxonomy-aligned share of the Dürr Group’s relevant OpEx in accordance with the Taxonomy Regulation amounted to 11.5% in the year under review (previous year: 9.3%). An important component were non-capitalizable expenses for research and development, particularly in the areas of battery production technology and solid-wood manufacturing. These expenses contributed 87% to the taxonomy-eligible or taxonomy-aligned OpEx (previous year: 93%).
Further details on the composition of environmentally sustainable sales revenues, capital expenditures, and operating expenses are provided in the → Annual Report 2023.
Economic activity 3.6 „Manufacture of other low carbon technologies“
The activity description “3.6 Manufacture of other low carbon technologies” is of particular relevance to the Dürr Group. Due to the generic description of this economic activity, it is necessary to describe our interpretation in greater detail. The economic activity includes activities for the production of technologies that aim at substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in other sectors of the economy. From the Dürr Group’s perspective, a substantial reduction means a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions in the use phase by at least 20%. Such a substantial reduction can usually only be achieved by a technological leap and not by continuous improvements. We have therefore set the value of 20% as the minimum level for a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Furthermore, the technical screening criteria for economic activity 3.6 describe requirements for the quantification of life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions. We commissioned the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics (IBP) to prepare science-based lifecycle greenhouse gas balances for representative machines and systems. In assessing the lifecycle emissions of goods manufactured with our machines and systems, we relied on published data and analyses from recognized scientific organizations.
