Henkel sets new and ambitious targets for sustainable packaging and climate protection

Building on strong track record in sustainability

 

• Strong progress towards 2020 sustainability
  targets
• New packaging targets for 2025
  to avoid and reduce plastic waste
• Become a climate-positive
  company by 2040

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY – Media OutReach – 12 March 2020
– Henkel has published its 29^th Sustainability Report,
detailing its performance and progress in all dimensions of sustainability. At
the same time, Henkel presented its strategic framework for the future and
outlined new targets in key areas such as sustainable packaging and climate protection.

“Our commitment
to sustainability has been an integral part of our corporate culture for
decades. While we are working with determination to deliver on the targets we
defined for 2020, we are stepping up our goals for the future with new milestones
to actively contribute to climate protection, a circular economy and social
progress. Sustainability is firmly embedded in our new strategic framework, as
one of the drivers of competitive edge,” said Carsten Knobel, Chief Executive
Officer of Henkel.

“The next
five years will be decisive, both on a global level and for us as a company. We
need to make sure that we are on the right track to limit global warming and
deliver on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,” added Sylvie Nicol,
Member of the Henkel Management Board responsible for Human Resources and
Sustainability.

Strong
progress towards 2020 sustainability targets

By
2030, Henkel aims to become three times more efficient in its business
activities compared to its environmental footprint in the base year 2010. This
is the cornerstone of Henkel’s sustainability strategy. By the end of 2019, Henkel
has already increased its total efficiency by 56 percent (compared to 2010).

Henkel
already achieved three 2020 targets ahead of time: CO₂ emissions were
reduced by 31 percent and waste per ton of product was lowered by 40 percent. With
an improvement in occupational health and safety by 42 percent, Henkel
overachieved its target for 2020. And water consumption per ton of product was
reduced by 28 percent compared to 2010. This means, the target of 30 percent is
clearly within reach.

Clear targets for climate protection

In view of
the need to reduce CO₂ emissions to limit global warming, Henkel enhanced
its long-term vision to become a climate-positive company and to drive progress
in relevant areas of its value chain.

“With our
vision to become a climate-positive company by 2040, we explicitly go one step
further than becoming carbon-neutral and demonstrate Henkel’s commitment to be
a leader in sustainability. We want to drive progress in our own operations and
work with our partners along the value chain to jointly contribute to protecting
our planet,” explained Sylvie Nicol.

On the way to
becoming climate-positive by 2040, the company plans to reduce the carbon
footprint of its production by 65 percent by 2025. Henkel intends to achieve
this by continuously improving its energy efficiency and by using electricity
from renewable sources. By 2040, Henkel aims to have converted all remaining
fossil fuels used in production to climate-neutral alternatives and supply
surplus carbon-neutral energy to third parties.

In
addition, Henkel wants to leverage its brands and technologies to help
customers, consumers and suppliers save 100 million tons of CO₂ in a
ten-year period up to 2025.

New packaging targets for 2025

Building
on its progress and activities in sustainable packaging to promote a circular
economy, Henkel strengthens its efforts with new, even more ambitious sustainable
packaging targets for 2025:

• 100%
  recyclable or reusable*: All of Henkel’s packaging will
  be recyclable or reusable*.
• Cut
  fossil plastics by 50%: Henkel aims to reduce the amount of virgin
  plastics from fossil sources in its consumer products by 50 percent. This
  will be achieved by increasing the proportion of recycled plastic for its
  consumer goods products globally to more than 30 percent, by reducing the
  plastic volume, and by increasingly using bio-based plastics.
• Zero waste: Henkel
  wants to help prevent waste from being disposed in the environment. Therefore,
  the company is supporting waste collection and recycling initiatives and invests
  in innovative solutions and technologies to promote closed-loop recycling.
  Henkel aims to reach more than 2 billion consumer contacts per year by
  providing targeted information about recycling.

At
the end of 2019, 85 percent of Henkel’s packaging was recyclable or reusable*.
The share of recycled plastic in Henkel’s consumer goods packaging in Europe
amounted to 12 percent.

Positive social impact on communities

Contributing
to social progress is one of the six focus areas of Henkel’s sustainability
strategy. Henkel wants to further enhance its positive social impact on
communities by 2025 through 100 percent responsible sourcing, by leveraging its
more than 50,000 employees, which have been trained as sustainability
ambassadors and by helping to improve 20 million lives globally.

Responsible sourcing

Henkel maintains
intensive dialog with its suppliers to promote sustainable practices and
respect for human rights along the value chain. Key element of Henkel’s responsible
sourcing strategy is a six-stage responsible sourcing process, which is used for
assessing the sustainability performance of its suppliers and which is firmly
embedded in the company’s purchasing activities. In 2019, the company covered
about 86 percent of its purchasing volume in the areas of packaging, raw materials,
and contract manufacturing.

A strong
example of Henkel’s commitment to responsible sourcing is Together for
Sustainability — The Chemical Initiative for Sustainable Supply Chains (TfS),
which was co-founded by Henkel in 2011. In the initiative, 23 partners from the
entire chemical industry join forces to harmonize increasingly complex supply
chain management processes with regard to sustainability. Core elements of the
TfS initiative are audits and online assessments, carried out by selected, independent
audit companies and EcoVadis, a service provider specialized in sustainability
analysis.

Sustainability
as differentiator

“At
Henkel, we want to firmly anchor sustainability in all our activities and
ensure it is a central pillar in the innovation strategies across all business
units. This will help to make Henkel more resource-efficient and reinforce our
competitive edge,” said Carsten Knobel.

The
consumer businesses Beauty Care and Laundry & Home Care, for example, will
advance their product portfolios with a particular focus on sustainable
packaging solutions and the roll-out of brands with a purpose. Adhesive
Technologies will further leverage its potential through products and
technologies that enable breakthrough industry solutions.

For
more information on Henkel’s sustainability strategy, performance and progress,
visit www.henkel.com/sustainability.

* Excluding adhesive products where residue may affect recyclability or pollute recycling streams.