Careful use of the resources available to us and the avoidance of environmental pollution are among the Ensinger Group's most important strategic tasks. The focus is on continuously reducing the CO2eq footprint at our sites in Europe, Asia and the USA. An important prerequisite for this is the sophisticated control of energy consumption, the purchase of electricity from renewable sources and the conversion of all processes for which fossil fuels still have to be used today.
A company's activities also lead to further environmental impacts, which are recorded in the life cycle assessment. The careful handling of hazardous substances is of particular importance here.
The company's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been systematically recorded and analysed for the German plants since 2021 and for all locations worldwide since 2022. The balance is based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG) standard. Emissions are reported according to their origin, the so-called scopes, 1-3.
Scope 1 includes emissions from the operation of the company's facilities, which require fossil fuels. Scope 2 includes emissions that arise from the generation of electricity purchased by the company. Scope 3 includes emissions that arise as a result of the company's activities with external parties, in particular from the extraction, production and delivery of raw materials and supplies as well as from the transport of the products sold.
Figure: The majority of the company's greenhouse gas emissions are generated during the production and transport of the raw materials that are purchased (main component Scope 3). This is followed by emissions from the generation of purchased electricity (Scope 2) and from combustion processes in the company's facilities and vehicles (Scope 1).
In the base year (financial year 2022, FY22), the GHG emissions of the entire Ensinger Group were around 330,000 tonnes of CO2eq. More than 90 per cent of emissions occur along the value chain (Scope 3), primarily in the production of raw materials and merchandise. In the following year, emissions fell by 12 per cent, primarily due to lower demand, high inventories and correspondingly reduced purchasing volumes.
The following chart shows the emissions categories from Scope 3 excluding raw materials and merchandise as well as Scopes 1 and 2.
Figure: Emissions of the group excluding raw materials and merchandise by main polluters
The largest share of emissions comes from the generation of purchased electricity, in particular from fossil-fueled power plants (Scope 2), the transport of goods, the infrastructure for generating energy, employee commuting, the landfilling of waste (all part of Scope 3) and the combustion of fossil fuels in the company for process heat, heating and the operation of vehicles (Scope 1).
The decrease in emissions compared to the previous year is primarily due to the increased purchase of electricity from renewable sources.
For the definition of greenhouse gas reduction targets, Ensinger has committed to the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) to formulate its targets in accordance with the requirements of the Paris Climate Agreement and submit them for review. Both the targets and the means chosen should be targeted and trustworthy. The plan is to reduce emissions by 45 % for Scope 1 - 3 by 2031 (base year 2022). By 2041, emissions for scopes 1 and 2 are to be reduced by over 90 %. Emissions for Scope 3 are to be reduced by 90 % by 2046.
Figure: Planned reduction in greenhouse gas emissions for Scope 1 to 3, actual emissions for comparison.
Figure: The diagram shows the greenhouse gas emissions over the entire product life cycle from the "cradle" (crave), the synthesis of the polymer, to disposal (grave) using the example of one kilogramme of semi-finished PET material. The proportion of emissions caused by Ensinger's molding of the raw material is around 15 %. By far the largest proportion of emissions comes from the synthesis (polymerisation) of the material. The individual use of the material by the consumer is excluded from the analysis.
*Others include all categories with less than 1 % share of the total result.
*Others include all categories with less than 1% share of the total result. Source: Ecoinvent v391
The first improvements concern the reduced environmental impact through the purchase of electricity from renewable energies and the planned replacement of auxiliary materials containing scarce rare earths.