Henkel reaches first sustainability targets ahead of schedule

Henkel is well on its way to achieving its sustainability goals. The company’s 24th Sustainability Report, which details the environmental and social advancements and progress toward sustainability goals of 2030, reveals the company is ahead of schedule. 

“Henkel’s clear Sustainability Strategy has proven highly effective, enabling us to reach four out of five interim targets one year ahead of schedule,” said Kathrin Menges, executive vice-president of human resources and Chair of Henkel’s Sustainability Council. “Our employees play a key role in achieving these successes, and we will continue to rely on their commitment and expertise to drive further progress.”

Henkel’s strategy has a long-term goal of achieving more with less and increasing resource efficiency by a factor of three by 2030. Henkel also aims to improve the relationship between the value it creates and its environmental footprint by 30 per cent before the end of the year. 

Henkel has already achieved significant progress, with improvements of 20 per cent in energy efficiency, 19 per cent in water use, 18 per cent in waste volume and 25 per cent in occupational safety. The company aims for continuous improvement in its performance and is working on defining new interim targets for 2020. 

Henkel views leadership in sustainability not only as a responsibility, but also an opportunity to continuously strengthen its competitiveness. Three strategic principles are key to the implementation of the Sustainability Strategy: products, partners and people. The company focuses on developing products that offer more value, better performance and have a smaller environmental footprint. Together with its partners, Henkel aims to continuously improve its products across the entire value chain. Moreover, active employee involvement is fundamental to reaching Henkel’s ambitious goal for 2030. To support the initiative, Henkel developed an important tool called the “Sustainability Ambassadors” program. The program gives employees a clear understanding of sustainability and enables them to convey the importance of sustainability to their co-workers, suppliers, customers, consumers and school children. Since the launch of the program in July 2012, more than 3,800 employees in 70 countries have become ambassadors and have reached out to around 36,000 school children in 37 countries.

Contact Henkel for more information on its sustainability strategy.

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