Colors are passion, emotions and personality. At Siegwerk, inks and coatings are our specialty and we use color to bring the packaging and products of our customers to life.
Siegwerk’s Carbon Footprint
Sustainability
Our commitment towards carbon neutrality
As we continue to face the reality of climate change, it is more important than ever to find ways to reduce the carbon footprint. Many brand owners have already set ambitious targets to reduce the emissions related to their packaging. This requires every component within a packaging structure, even the packaging inks and coatings, to be carbon neutral or at least have a lower carbon footprint.
What is a carbon footprint?
A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) produced through direct and indirect actions. This is usually expressed in how many tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2eq) the activities produce. Taking stock and understanding carbon footprint is key to reduce emissions or reach a carbon-neutral status.
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the most widely accepted international accounting standard for governments and corporations to understand, quantify, and manage their emissions. The GHG protocol applies to the direct and indirect emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other GHG gasses produced through the full cycle of a business’s activities.
Here, various processes and sources are divided into 3 scopes of carbon emissions. Scope 1 covers direct sources of emissions and pertain mostly to sources owned or operated by the business. Scope 2 covers indirect sources of emissions from energy, and scope 3 covers indirect upstream and downstream emissions including transport and goods and services purchased.
Siegwerk’s commitment to becoming carbon-neutral
As a responsible company, we have long been committed to do our part for a better and more sustainable future. That’s why we always keep an eye on the environmental impact of our business activities and products. As part of our sustainability agenda, we are also committed to become carbon-neutral, by strategically reducing emissions from our own operations, thus limiting potential negative effects in the long term.
Even though we have already taken many steps to reduce our carbon footprint, including transitioning to renewable energy sources and investing in efficient production technologies, we also know that more needs to be done. That's why we are committed to reducing scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, and then responsibly off-setting any remaining emissions. We are also working with our suppliers and customers to help them reduce their emissions.
Siegwerk has had its science-based climate targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Siegwerk joined the initiative with a commitment letter in 2022, and has set near- and long-term company-wide emission reductions in line with science-based net-zero with the SBTi.
Our targets are:
Overall net zero target: Siegwerk commits to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain by 2050.
Near-term targets: Siegwerk commits to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 42% by 2030 from a 2020 base year.* Siegwerk also commits to increase active annual sourcing of renewable electricity from 0% in 2020 to 100% by 2025, and to continue active annual sourcing of 100% renewable electricity through 2030. Siegwerk further commits to reduce absolute scope 3 GHG emissions from purchased goods and services 25% by 2030 from a 2020 base year.
Long-term target: Siegwerk commits to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 90% by 2050 from a 2020 base year.* Siegwerk also commits to reduce absolute scope 3 GHG emissions 90% within the same timeframe.
More information about SBTi and the science-based target methodology is available at: https://sciencebasedtargets.org/companies-taking-action
*The target boundary includes biogenic land-related emissions and removals from bioenergy
feedstocks.
Siegwerk’s activities to drive carbon neutrality
To achieve the objectives under scope 1 and 2, we are engaging in the following activities, among others:
- Installing renewable electricity generation sources such as solar.
- Sourcing green electricity from newly established renewable energy projects.
- Shifting our company car fleet to 100% electric.
To achieve our scope 3 objectives, we are committed to the following activities:
- Waste reduction.
- Transport optimization.
- Reformulation and sourcing of raw materials with lower carbon footprint.
All in all, we follow a holistic approach to achieve carbon neutrality by focusing our activities not only on the impacts of our own products and operations, but also on impacts throughout the value chain. On the one hand, we are committed to investing in sustainability in our own operations, for example by investing in green energy, as well as driving the development of circular solutions that enable circularity of packaging and thereby further improve the carbon footprint by avoiding incineration. On the other hand, we include carbon neutrality commitments in our supply contracts, provide transparency around the carbon footprint of our products to support our customers to choose carbon improved products, and leverage partnerships and alliances to further encourage carbon neutrality across the value chain.