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“FOOTPRINT ON INNOVATION, NOT ON EMISSIONS“
Anyone committed to sustainability must create facts. ALTANA has achieved considerable CO2 savings faster than planned and has now set itself an ambitious new target. In the eyes of Martin Babilas, responsibility for climate protection is a matter for top management.
“With our CO2 neutrality program up to 2025, we are fulfilling our responsibility for climate protection and consistently pursuing our sustainability course,” says Martin Babilas, CEO of ALTANA AG. The goal is to achieve climate neutrality, and to do so already from 2025 onwards, by which time the company will have reduced its CO2 impact from production and energy procurement to zero worldwide. And already starting in 2020, the company’s entire power supply will be converted to renewable energies. ALTANA will compensate for the unavoidable use of natural gas, as well as CO2 emissions arising from necessary business trips, company cars, and the transport of goods, by financing equivalent climate protection projects. As a result, the specialty chemicals group will achieve climate neutrality in its direct sphere of influence by 2025.
Focus on Energy Efficiency and Renewable EnergiesEnergien
ALTANA is not starting from scratch. In 2017, it had already achieved the goal it set itself in 2007 of reducing CO2 emissions by 30 percent in relation to gross value added by 2020. In order to further reduce its CO2 emissions, Babilas is relying on greater energy efficiency and the long-term replacement of natural gas as a source of energy with renewable energies at its worldwide sites. In addition to the existing solar systems at ELANTAS in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, and at BYK in Deventer, the Netherlands, a further photovoltaic system went into operation at ELANTAS in Pune, India, which covers the electricity requirements of the new research center at this site. In Collecchio, Italy, ELANTAS is currently constructing another photovoltaic system for a new production and laboratory building.
ALTANA hat 2019 den Weg zur CO2-Neutralität entwickelt. Die jahrzehntelange Erfahrung mit nachhaltigen Produktlösungen kommt dem Unternehmen bei der Erreichung seines Klimaschutzziels zugute. Für Martin Babilas ist die Verantwortung für den Klimaschutz Chefsache.
Climate Protection Is a Corporate Task
Aside from the measures at its own sites, ALTANA is also implementing a program in close cooperation with its suppliers to consistently further improve the CO2 balance of purchased raw materials, too. For Babilas, taking responsibility for climate protection and creating the corresponding facts is a corporate task. “Policymakers must create the indispensable framework for this, and, above all, promote renewable energies much more strongly and swiftly,” says ALTANA’s CEO.
Decades of experience in developing innovative product solutions that contribute to sustainability will benefit the company in achieving its climate protection goals. Here are just a few of many examples: Wire enamels from ALTANA’s ELANTAS division are increasingly being used in electric vehicles and extend their service life. BYK offers a solution for the recycling of polypropylene from car batteries, which was previously not recyclable. An aluminum pigment in wall paints developed by the ECKART division ensures that up to 50 percent of the heat is radiated back from the walls into the room. A PVC-free seal from the ACTEGA division helps beverage bottlers save 10,000 tons of steel for their crown caps. This roughly corresponds to the weight of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Martin Babilas concludes: “We want to leave our footprint on innovations, not on emissions.”