It has been officially confirmed: Following a resolution by the Executive Board, Krones is aiming to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2040 - along the entire value chain. “In view of the latest forecasts issued by climate researchers, each and every one of us needs to know that our planet has reached a dangerous turning point,” explains Krones’ CEO Christoph Klenk. “As far as climate change is concerned, all of us - businesses, politicians, individuals - are in this together. Even now, it is still possible to protect the conditions necessary to ensure humankind’s continued existence, and we must therefore take the chance while we still can.”
Following the standard of the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), the Krones Group intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions along the entire value chain from Scopes 1 to 3 by 90 percent and to neutralize the remaining ten percent by 2040. 2019 is the base year for this and for the short-term targets already validated by the SBTi. Krones submitted its net-zero target to the Science Based Targets Initiative at the beginning of April, and the sustainability team expects to receive final validation in the fall of this year.
“Our decision represents the end of a comprehensive review of all the sustainability targets we’d set ourselves. This revealed that we also have to specify more stringent targets for the medium term up to 2030,” explains Martina Birk, Head of Sustainability at Krones. This is particularly true for Scope 3 emissions in upstream and downstream supply chains. The 25 percent reduction target from the 2019 baseline set out in the previous climate strategy has now been increased to 30 percent. For Scopes 1 and 2, which cover direct and indirect in-house emissions, the reduction target of 80 percent remains unchanged.
The company is equally ambitious in all its other efforts to create a sustainable future. Based on the existing sustainability goals, the group has now defined twelve quantitative (unambiguous and measurable) targets to be achieved by 2030 in the three ESG areas: Environmental, Social, Governance, which cover the entire spectrum of Krones' sustainability activities. These include, for example, efforts to increase the proportion of women in management positions to 20 percent and measures to reduce the water footprint of products sold by 20 percent.
“We’ve put in place a comprehensive sustainability controlling system focused entirely on this set of ESG KPIs. This system includes not only the strategic goals but also external requirements like CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards), GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) and ratings such as Ecovadis or CDP,” says Peter Steger, Head of Corporate Sustainability.
Krones is a member of the SBTi's "Business Ambition for 1.5°C" campaign. The group has thus committed itself to systematically reducing its emissions in line with the findings and recommendations of climate researchers. To ensure the necessary transparency for customers, investors, and analysts, the company has also adopted recognized rating and auditing formats. In 2023, Krones received an A rating from the CDP in the climate change category (water security: B). Its current Ecovadis scorecard was awarded a gold medal.
