Our path to climate neutrality

With our production sites in Radevormwald, North Rhine-Westphalia and Sörup, Schleswig-Holstein, our total energy consumption of electricity and gas is 55,000 MWh per year. This corresponds to the average consumption of about 3,500 households. We are happy to accept the resulting possibilities and opportunities to optimise and reduce this figure.

We have set ourselves the target of producing CO₂-neutrally in the long term and to continue to produce our highly sophisticated components for the mechanical, engine and plant engineering sector in Germany. With the project “The path to climate neutrality” we have given this challenge special priority in our Group of companies and set ourselves ambitious goals.

The project is divided into four areas:

1. Improving energy efficiency
   This year, the spectrum of activities ranges from the renewal and optimisation of gas fire plants, the improved insulation of our roofs and buildings, through to the optimisation of compressed air networks. 

2. Use of renewable energies
   In this area, we were able to complete our largest project to date last year: the construction of a photovoltaic system with a capacity of 2.2 MWp at the Radevormwald site. This allows us to cover about 18 % of our electricity needs here. You can find more information about our photovoltaic system here.
   We are currently examining further steps in this area, such as the use of wind energy or renewable fuels.

3. Substitution of fossil fuels
   Currently, we can only achieve a piecemeal substitution of fossil fuels by using “green” electricity. The use of hydrogen, on the other hand, is still difficult at the moment, since almost only “grey” hydrogen is available on the market. That is why we are currently increasingly focusing on switching from gas to electricity and are closely monitoring developments in the field of hydrogen and biogas.

4. Compensation of the CO₂ emissions
   As a final step, we will examine various ideas in the future, with which we will be able to compensate for indispensable CO₂ sources in our production by other measures. The shortlist includes, for example, supporting local reforestation projects.

In addition, we will soon be offering CO₂ optimised materials to our customers, with which we can significantly limit our CO₂ footprint through targeted purchasing and the substitution of materials, with low additional costs based on reliable sources and studies.

Only through this multi-pronged approach do we see an opportunity to meet the high demands that the development towards climate-neutral production places on us. The basic prerequisite is transparency and a good analysis of all processes and essential raw materials in our Group. We were able to complete this basic work last year and have applied our findings in climate assessments published for the years 2019-2022 for both sites. In the future, the climate assessment will be compiled on an annual basis and presented to all employees and the public in order to achieve an increased awareness of the extensive range of issues.

The path to climate neutrality is long, but the great importance of this goal and the motivating interim results, such as a significant reduction in our heating consumption last year (go to article), give our daily work an additional meaning and motivate us to make further efforts.