Sustainability Controlling
Our current times are characterised by new and more comprehensive requirements for non-financial reporting and the transparency of corporate sustainability performance. The new EU reporting requirements in accordance with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the EU taxonomy also present the HARTING Group with new and time-consuming tasks that are not to be underestimated.
Given its many years of experience with EMAS certification in Germany since 1996, HARTING already has a deeply rooted environmental awareness and generating the necessary data transparency is an everyday component in the individual companies. A quote from Isaac Newton therefore fits the HARTING Group very well: "If I have seen further than others, it is only because I stood on the shoulders of giants." This is also documented by the CO2 balance: for more than 10 years, HARTING has been sourcing 99 % regenerative or climate-neutral 1 energy in Germany, thereby avoiding and compensating for almost 18,000 tonnes of CO2 every year.
In order to meet the new challenges, the new position of Environmental and Sustainability Controlling was created. Since April 2022, this has been the core for global environmental and sustainability controlling with the initial objective of calculating the corporate carbon footprint of the global technology group. HARTING is also pursuing a very clear and challenging goal: The climate neutral status of our on-site locations by 2030 (Scope 1 + 2) 2 . We started off with a simple Excel template to query the global energy demand of the individual companies. However, this is soon to be replaced by a database for transmitting the data and generating the visualisation of the data by way of a BI tool. This will enable internal reporting tailored to each company and the clear tracking of target achievement.
In addition, the CO2 emissions of individual Scope 3 3 categories were estimated (transport within the HARTING Group, business travel and packaging). These categories were selected given that HARTING sees a potential impact of its own and has set itself the ambitious target of reducing these emissions by 50% by 2030. Close and overlapping cooperation between many departments from different companies is necessary here.
Each of the almost 60 companies is responsible itself for achieving the targets, but some support comes from Espelkamp headquarters: An internal CO 2 price has been set up, which is applied when an investment saves energy and thereby reduces CO2 . For each tonne of CO2 saved, the investing company receives the CO2 price credited to the project and the investment sum is reduced. This CO2price increases every year so as to boost incentives. The increased transparency within the technology group alone has had an incredible impact: The listing of the major CO2 emitters as such has resulted in a large number of projects: The project ideas range from the purchase of electricity from renewable sources, more efficient process cooling and the planning of PV systems all the way through to the precise breakdown of energy flows. To sum all this up: Despite the work we have already done and the projects we have implemented, the transformation of the HARTING Technology Group will not be easy but it will be well worth the effort!
[1] The emissions from the liquid gas purchased for production (approx. 0.2% of the total gas demand) are offset by supporting climate protection projects. Certified by the United Nations (UN CER) or according to the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and validated by European, independent testing organisations (e.g.: such as TÜV, SGS). Partner: https://www.fokus-zukunft.com/ und https://www.firstclimate.com/
[2] Scope 1 includes all direct GHG emissions from the combustion of natural gas, heating oil, petrol or diesel, among others. The emissions from refrigerant leaks are added to this.
Scope 2 includes the indirect GHG emissions resulting from the generation of the procured energy (e.g. electricity, district heating, steam or cooling energy)
[3] Scope 3: GHG emissions from upstream and downstream supply chains and services / indirect emissions generated throughout a company's value creation chain.
