Reducing our footprint
Climate change is one of the most critical challenges of our time. We believe meaningful action is the path to a healthier environment and sustainable business growth. That is why we are reducing the emissions generated by our products and processes, improving our energy efficiency and purchasing more electricity from renewable sources.
Intrinsically innovative
For more than 350 years, we have been pursuing innovation. Today, we develop and transport hundreds of thousands of products to customers all over the world. It is our goal and responsibility to minimize our environmental impact, which is why we strive to enhance every aspect of our products, including their packaging.
Waste reduction is a key aspect of our climate action efforts. We are committed to lowering our Waste Score, such as by reducing waste in our production processes and increasing the amount of material we recycle.
Greener cold chains
Our Greener Cooler significantly reduces expanded polystyrene (EPS) waste and the associated greenhouse gas emissions for our customers. It meets the need for greener solutions as well as our customers’ rising environmental awareness and increasing regulatory pressure to meet new sustainability standards. It is one of the new solutions we are developing to make our cold chain distribution as sustainable as possible.
Our collaborations along the value chain offer our customers more sustainable solutions. Our Greener Coolers are one way we make packaging more sustainable.
Our stories from the Sustainability Report 2021
Powering with renewable energy
In 2021, we signed our first virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with a green energy supplier. The VPPA guarantees that clean energy generated by wind farms meets 100% of our U.S. Life Science electricity consumption. This matches 65% of our total electricity consumption in the United States.
Our VPPA corresponds to the output of around 14 wind turbines. It’s a great initiative that sets the stage for our approach to expanding renewable energies.
Green building
In 2025, the Translational Science Center (TSC) at our global headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, will open its doors to more than 500 scientists. This “green building” will generate energy for its own use and make excess capacity available to other consumers. The landmark project is part of our ambition to reduce our environmental footprint and become climate-neutral by 2040.
The TSC impressively demonstrates sustainable design and economic viability aren’t mutually exclusive.
Explore our other stories
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We collaborate with site operations across the world to make sustainability improvements – an essential driver to become climate neutral by 2040.
Niko Kotsaftis, Life Science, USA