beyond tomorrow stepping up to a global challenge the world’s population is growing – from 7.2 billion people today, the main source of energy is still oil, which results in 36 today, global population is expected to reach around 10 billion tons of co2 that are emitted into the atmosphere every billion in 2100. at the same time, global economic growth year. by 2035, that figure is expected to reach 45 billion tons, is enabling increased standards of living worldwide, which which will possibly lead to global warming. under current leads to better and longer lives. the demand for natural conditions, the earth’s average temperature will be 3.5 resources to feed, clothe, house and make people mobile is degrees celsius higher in 2100 than it was in 1900. weather- rapidly rising. at the rate we are using the world’s natural related natural catastrophes will become more frequent. resources today, current estimates suggest that we will need the graphic shows what we can expect to happen if nothing three entire earths to supply all our needs by the year 2050. changes. in contrast, we at freudenberg are striving to build energy use continues to rise. global demand for energy a more sustainable future – so that our planet has sufficient could easily double within the next 100 years. resources available for coming generations as well. 36 bn. t 7.2 bn. 550 ej/a 0.8 °c 2016 50 bn. t 10 bn. 800 ej/a 3.5 °c 2100 co2 emissions world population energy global warming life expectancy 1849 sources: united nations population division (2014), carbon dioxide information analysis center (2014), intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc) fifth assessment report, 2013. 2
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sustainability as an important part of responsibility for freudenberg as a values-based technology group in and principles date back to 1887, the year in which carl family ownership, we define total success as financial johann freudenberg first made his sons partners in the success plus fulfilling our responsibility for society. these family business. two inseparable goals have been a central part of our corporate values for over 165 years. in 2014, we signed the global compact of the united our values and principles have always embraced the the globe to conduct their business responsibly with regard group’s responsibility for society. sustainability is one way to compliance, human rights & labor, sustainability, by which we demonstrate this responsibility. our values health & safety, environmental protection and corporate nations. this initiative seeks to encourage companies across citizenship. each year we publish a report about our progress in these areas. movie & & - & & - m aterials waste energy emiss i o n s e t w a a lt h e r h freudenberg values & principles areas addressing responsibility issues/topics operational processes and initiatives along the value chain (e. g. related to the un global compact) initiatives beyond the value chain our commitment to compliance, human rights & labor, sustainability, health, safety & environmental protection as well as corporate citizenship is anchored in our values and principles, with particular emphasis on responsibility. these five areas are closely linked to each other and are expressions of our responsibility for society. 4
our understanding of sustainability there are two dimensions to sustainability at freudenberg: freudenberg has introduced a group-wide definition the first is how we improve our processes and equip our plants of sustainability: we strive to minimize our foot- to make production as resource efficient as possible. we call print and maximize the handprint for our customers this minimizing our footprint. the second dimension relates and end-users. to the numerous products and services freudenberg delivers customers to enable them to improve the efficiency of their that means we are minimizing the environmental own products. this is where freudenberg contributes to impact from the company’s manufacturing processes a positive handprint. both footprint and handprint focus (footprint) and maximizing our impact as a sustain- on resource efficiency to become more sustainable. ability enabler at our customers (handprint) by providing sustainable products and services. (cid:22)(cid:28)(cid:24)(cid:30)(cid:21) (cid:31) & (cid:18)(cid:17)(cid:27)(cid:26)(cid:16)(cid:27) (cid:18) (cid:24) (cid:21) (cid:31) (cid:31)(cid:30)(cid:31)(cid:29)(cid:28)(cid:27)(cid:26)(cid:28)(cid:25) (cid:27) (cid:24) (cid:27) (cid:29) (cid:23) (cid:31)(cid:28)(cid:26)(cid:28)(cid:31)(cid:28)(cid:27)(cid:28)(cid:26)(cid:25) (cid:17)(cid:16)(cid:20) (cid:18) (cid:17) (cid:17) (cid:19) (cid:21) (cid:20) (cid:28) (cid:26) (cid:19) m aterials waste energy emiss i o n s e t w a a lt h e r h (cid:31)(cid:30)(cid:29)(cid:28)(cid:31)(cid:28)(cid:27)(cid:28)(cid:26)(cid:25) (cid:23)(cid:30)(cid:26)(cid:22)(cid:21)(cid:20)(cid:28)(cid:26)(cid:19) (cid:18)(cid:17)(cid:20) (cid:17) (cid:16) (cid:20) (cid:15) (cid:16) (cid:14) (cid:19) (cid:17) (cid:31) (cid:13) (cid:20) (cid:14) materials emissions material efficiency air pollution/emissions recycled, renewable, and substitute materials end-of-life handling of products waste waste handling energy energy efficiency renewable energy water water pollution water withdrawal health impact of products on health by minimizing our footprint and maximizing the handprint for our customers, we contribute to global sustainability. most important throughout the group are the issue areas of materials, waste, energy, emissions, water and health. 5
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innovating together for sustainability some examples minimizing our footprint – maximizing our handprint the constant quest for increased sustainability is a key driver sustainable our products, the larger the handprint will be for for innovation. at the same time, innovation results in more our customers and the end-users of freudenberg products. sustainable processes and products. the one drives the other. innovation can contribute to sustainability by having we are constantly innovating together with our customers a direct positive impact on our footprint and handprint. and our research partners to develop the leading-edge technologies, products, solutions and services that we all fundamentally, the more we innovate, the more sustain- need to ensure a sustainable future. able our processes and products will become. the more save energy with high-tech lubricants new products from used pet bottles high-tech lubricants from klüber lubrication, a the freudenberg performance materials facility movie brand of freudenberg, reduce friction between in novedrate, italy, processes several million pet components and save energy compared with bottles daily, turning them into plastic flakes. they conventional oils. energy costs can be cut by are the base material for various freudenberg approximately five percent – a bonus for the products, particularly household products and environment and the company. nonwovens. waste is recycled, natural resources are conserved and co2 emissions are reduced by 50 percent. 7
use of recycled materials for sustainable reduce production waste household products many freudenberg sites have launched initia- up to 90 percent of the materials used in the tives to improve the eco-balance, for example manufacture of the latest generation of buckets by recycling waste and thus reducing waste vol- and brooms from freudenberg’s vileda brand umes. one such project is called “zero landfill.” are recycled synthetics. innovative manufactur- at the location in colmar, france, production ing technologies result in a 20 percent material waste was cut by 20 percent compared with reduction. in turn, this decreases the consumption the previous year. another example is the of crude oil which used to be a raw material introduction of cold runner injection molding for most of the products. furthermore, as no to the vibracoustic manufacturing network, metal is used in their manufacture, the brooms which significantly helps reduce the amount themselves can also be recycled at end-of-life. of rubber waste. promote health by substitution of toxic substance less friction for lower fuel consumption and co2 surtec, a brand of freudenberg, developed a emissions movie health-friendly chromium (iii) coating to protect against corrosion for use in the surface treat- movie freudenberg sealing technologies’ levitex, a gas lubricated mechanical seal for crankshafts, ment of metal. this replaces toxic chromium (vi), functions nearly friction-free. the primary ring which has a carcinogenic effect. interacts with a mating ring to form a cushion of air on which the primary ring independently floats. air “lubrication” produces less friction than any oil and achieves an almost identical sealing performance. this results in lower fuel consumption, less wear and a long operating life. translated into figures, levitex saves 0.5 to 1 gram co2 per kilometer and vehicle. 8
purify wastewater to drinking water seals for safer oil production viledon water solutions with aquabio technology eagleburgmann, a joint venture between from freudenberg filtration technologies are used freudenberg and the japanese eagle industry in the food and beverage industry to treat water group, delivers mechanical seals and seal supply from the production process. the membranes systems for pumps and compressors in use at used guarantee the reliable separation of solid the most modern oil platform in the world off particles and bacteria. using reverse osmosis the norwegian coast. eagleburgmann has long- filtration and an additional disinfection stage, up term experience in the oil industry and benefits to 70 percent of the wastewater can be purified its customers with valuable technological to drinking water quality. these solutions help know-how. save energy and lower the cost of operating the filtration plant, thus reducing co2 emissions. patients and medical staff benefit reduce co2 emissions in production from innovation by implementing new efficient power units into freudenberg medical’s coated ballon catheters existing production machinery, our business release drugs into the body exactly where group vibracoustic could significantly reduce the they are needed. the special compounds and energy consumption at its facility in cerkezköy, innovative coating process have a better and turkey. this not only helps saving energy costs longer-lasting effect – with just a third of the but also reduces the machineries co2 emissions drugs normally required. this reduces the side by almost 700 tons every year – a reduction effects for patients, decreases toxic waste at of more than 35 percent compared to the the medical center and reduces costs. previous year. 9
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getting better – staying focused the freudenberg group is broadly diversified. depending of major importance to the group as a whole: material on their respective product portfolios and the production efficiency, energy efficiency and co2 emissions. for greater technologies they employ, our business groups necessarily transparency, we are measuring our performance in these have different areas with regard to sustainability. in the three top areas across the group to ensure that we contin- six issue areas of materials, waste, energy, emissions, uously improve. water and health, there are many excellent examples within the freudenberg group of minimizing the footprint one example is energy efficiency. we are evaluating our and maximizing the handprint. energy consumption group-wide. with various measures and the implementation of energy management systems, in an internal process, we have evaluated where we we have continuously increased our energy efficiency. currently see the highest potential for improvement energy consumed per euro of sales has fallen by more and where the impact of our footprint and handprint is than a third in just seven years: from 0.37 to 0.23 kwh. greatest. certain issues have been identified that are and we want to further improve our energy efficiency. 0.37 0.23 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 energy efficiency at freudenberg (kwh per sales in €) 11
editorial information freudenberg group hoehnerweg 2– 4 69469 weinheim, germany published by freudenberg & co. kommanditgesellschaft corporate communications phone: +49 6201 80 0 corporatecommunications@freudenberg.com www.freudenberg.com april 2017 item no. fre1028en