Lower CO₂ emissions, greater efficiency: contributing to climate protection day by day

Climate protection and reducing global CO₂ emissions are one of the most important challenges the world currently faces. As a company whose activities are based on the principles of sustainable development, Cognis is taking active responsibility for climate protection. Apart from reducing our CO₂ emissions, we actively support initiatives for a sustainable cultivation and plantation of natural, renewable raw materials and the introduction of innovative methods for resource-conserving logistics with the goal of lowering the net release of carbon dioxide. We also aim to keep customers informed about how much CO₂ is generated in the manufacture of the products they buy from Cognis. And we are constantly developing innovative new low-carbon products. Overall, it is an approach that combines environmental and social responsibility with commercial success for ourselves and our customers.

Please see also goals and performance and facts and figures for more information about our aims and achievements in emission control.

Improving manufacturing processes and optimizing energy consumption
Reducing CO₂ emissions and thus effectively decreasing the carbon footprint of our processes and products means—above all—reducing energy consumption. This has been a top priority of Cognis for many years.

• Lower consumption, emissions and waste: much of this success is the result of targeted investment. With some 30 million euros in capital expenditures since 2003, we have elevated our technological infrastructure around the world to true state-of-the-art standards.
• We are constantly working to improve our production processes. Our expert groups, the Technology Segment Teams, develop best practice solutions and targets for key technologies, which are then implemented at all our sites.
• Our energy initiatives leading up to 2012 stipulate a specific target for each production site for each year. Under the guidance of our Technology Segment Teams, we aim to introduce innovative energy concepts at all our sites. The goal is to reduce consumption by 25% of the 2002 level. Emissions and waste have already been reduced significantly, e.g. CO₂ by 17 percent.

Please read more about environmental protection and best practices in emission control at Cognis.

Providing information for customers to determine their carbon footprint
More and more of our customers want to know how much CO₂ is generated in the production of the ingredients and formulations they purchase from Cognis. The reason: they want to calculate the carbon footprint of their own products, i. e. the total quantity of CO₂ produced as a result of manufacture and sale. In this context, our efforts to save energy also help our customers in the production of end products offering good environmental compatibility—a performance indicator of increasing importance in the consumer’s decision to buy.

• Since 2007, Cognis supports the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the world’s largest initiative for the analysis of the effects of climate change on companies and their strategies.
• CDP’s Corporate Supply Chain Program records the CO₂ emissions of the most important suppliers to multinational corporations.

Manufacturers can retrieve this information from the central DP database and incorporate it into calculations of their own CO₂ emissions throughout the value chain. This enables them to determine their own carbon footprint.

Helping customers to preserve the climate with innovative solutions
By using innovative products from Cognis, our customers can raise their economic success and lower greenhouse gases.

• Cognis is the world’s largest manufacturer of specialty chemical products based on renewable raw materials, and we are consistently following the logic of nature.
• We provide our customers solutions that enable them to operate in a sustainable manner. And we offer improved environmental compatibility with innovative solutions serving the range of market demands associated with performance, safety, health, well-being, and convenience.
• With the 24 Principles of Green Chemistry and Green Engineering, our course is clearly set for sustainable development aligned to hard facts. To ensure that we are always equipped with an objective basis for our decisions—we have defined a method of determining relevant parameters in line with the 24 Principles. This holistic scientific approach gives us a solid platform from which to pursue new products and concepts.