Consistent climate strategy

Our primary focus for enhancing sustainability lies in making our own products and those of our customers more sustainable, a commitment we uphold daily. Concurrently, we are steadfast in our pursuit of becoming greenhouse gas-free across all three scopes. ALTANA is is on the right track: Since 2014, we have already achieved a substantial reduction of approximately 70 percent in greenhouse gas emissions within Scopes 1 and 2.

December 2015, Paris: At the UN Climate Change Conference, 195 countries agreed to limit the increase in the global average temperature to well below two degrees Celsius. The aim is to reduce the harm done to people and the environment. We can only reach this goal together. To achieve this objective, we all have to make a contribution. ALTANA implements a diverse array of measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy efficiency improvement and new technologies

Own electricity and heat generation from renewable sources

Climate protection projects and sustainable corporate management

Energy efficiency improvement and new technologies

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ALTANA is focusing on improving its energy efficiency and on new technologies. To this end, the company regularly reviews its operating processes, plants, and machinery in order to identify and implement CO₂ savings potential. One example is the optimization of thermal afterburning at its home site in Wesel. There, the BYK division has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 400 tons of CO₂ equivalents by increasing the efficiency of heat generation from 85 to 95 percent. You can read about more projects in the “Environment” chapter of our Corporate Report.

Own electricity and heat generation from renewable sources

Whether solar, hydropower, or biogas, ALTANA has been purchasing electricity from renewable sources since March 2020. In addition, the ALTANA Group relies on its own generation of electricity and heat from renewable energy sources. In addition to the solar plants at ELANTAS in Ascoli Piceno and Collecchio in Italy, and at BYK in Deventer in the Netherlands, ACTEGA, for example, operates a photovoltaic plant at the Spanish site in Vigo. The solar plant at ELANTAS in Pune, India, even meets the electricity needs of the research center at this site. At BYK in Shanghai, electricity is generated from solar energy on an area of 2,000 square meters.

ECKART generates electricity from hydropower, in Hartenstein, Germany, and a biogas plant is operated at BYK in Denekamp, Netherlands. The ALTANA Group’s renewable energy generation at a glance:

Stronger and faster promotion of renewables needed

ALTANA CEO Martin Babilas is playing a key role in driving the transformation to a greenhouse gas-free company. For him, industry plays a decisive role in pushing forward climate protection worldwide. He says, policymakers should create an indispensable framework for this. The climate protection targets cannot be achieved without sufficient electricity from renewable energies at competitive prices and the corresponding grid infrastructure.

“We are therefore calling on policymakers to promote renewable energies much more strongly and swiftly. Incentives must be created to ensure that sufficient electricity and heat capacities from renewable energy sources will continue to be available in the future,“ Babilas says. “New procedures must be accelerated by public subsidies and barriers to use and own production must be eliminated.“ Furthermore, policymakers should create comparable competitive conditions for the industry with internationally uniform CO₂ pricing.

Climate protection projects and sustainable corporate management

In implementing its climate strategy, ALTANA employs offsetting, particularly for mitigating emissions that cannot be entirely avoided. Starting from 2025, the company will offset all CO₂ equivalents generated in Scope 1, Scope 2, and selected categories of Scope 3 (categories 4, 6, and 8). This includes greenhouse gas emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels, primarily natural gas, as well as those resulting from chemical reactions in production processes (Scope 1). It also includes indirect greenhouse gas emissions from the purchase of energy, notabily electricity and steam (Scope 2). Additionally, offsetting efforts will encompass emissions from necessary business trips, company vehicles, and transportation of goods.

ALTANA's approach aligns with the best practices recommended by SBTi (Science Based Target Initiative) to support decarbonization efforts. The company undergoes the Science-Based Targets Initiative process to have its targets independently verified.

The remaining emissions primarily stem from the necessity to reduce our reliance on natural gas in our production processes, which presents a notable technological challenge. However, we are steadfast in our commitment to minimizing these emissions.

To address this, we are exploring the expanded adoption of new technologies to eliminate the need for natural gas. Additionally, ALTANA is preparing to implement an internal carbon prize and is consistently linking sustainability targets to the individual target agreements of its managers.