Herma adopts strict environmental goals for 2021

Managing directors Sven Schneller and Dr Thomas Baumgärtner have announced that Herma will be developing and producing adhesive material, labels and labelling machines without leaving behind any carbon footprint.

‘With this step we are probably the pioneer in our industry in this field. First and foremost, however, we are eager to deliver significant results quickly. The accelerating climate crisis poses an almost inconceivable threat to humanity. Companies and private consumers alike have to apply the brakes with every means at our disposal,’ said their joint statement.

The company is implementing a series of measures in order to reach its climate-neutral target. It has been procuring exclusively green electricity for several years already reducing CO2 emissions by around 10,000 tones a year.

The use of fossil fuels for heating and other purposes, however, currently gives rise to a CO2 output in a similar amount. For this reason, Herma will be purchasing green gas in the future, which its supplier has already placed in a carbon-neutral footing.

In order to achieve actual climate neutrality as per Scope 1 and 2, described in the internationally recognized Greenhouse Gas Protocol, Herma will be completely offset emissions that remain unavoidable for the foreseeable future by way of compensation measures.

The adopted measures are based on a carbon footprint analysis undertaken by the company in collaboration with myclimate. It is based on the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard and encompasses the climate-affecting greenhouse gases for which the company is operationally responsible (Scope 1 and 2 emissions). The actions it has already taken or is now initiating in the drive to achieve climate neutrality apply initially to its plants in Germany, all of which are situated in Filderstadt.

‘Given that our manufacturing takes place almost exclusively in Germany and practically all of the climate-affecting emissions arise here, for the time being we have excluded the international subsidiaries from the carbon footprint analysis, which requires considerable input,’ said the directors’ statement.

Herma has a record of reducing CO2 emissions in recent years. It has reduced the energy consumption per square meter of adhesive material produced by around 20 percent in its division that consumes by far the largest amount of energy. In the new coating facility that was commissioned in spring 2020, a combined cooling, heat and power plant is among the provisions that have significantly curbed energy consumption, measured against the figures posted by the factory that was built in 2008. In consequence, Herma is now saving a quantity of electricity, roughly equivalent to the annual consumption of 200 family homes. The heat savings offset the annual consumption of around 100 homes.