Hella aims for climate-neutral production by 2025

As a leading automotive supplier, Hella wants to further accelerate its own efforts against climate change and send a clear signal for climate protection. So, by 2025, all 38 Hella production sites worldwide are to manufacture in a CO₂-neutral manner. Carbon neutrality is to be achieved in particular through further energy savings and the purchase of green electricity. At the same time, remaining and unavoidable emissions are to be offset by investments in high-quality certified climate protection projects. In addition, Hella aims to ensure a consistently climate-neutral supply chain by 2050 at the latest and to supply customers worldwide with CO₂-neutral products.

“Becoming carbon neutral is another milestone in Hella’s sustainability development and is embedded in a comprehensive sustainability strategy,” says Hella CEO Dr. Rolf Breidenbach. The Hella product portfolio is already helping to make mobility lower in emissions and more sustainable. Hella products enable, for example, start-stop functions in vehicles and recuperation in hybrid vehicles, or they monitor and control the flow of energy in electric vehicles. “More than 90 per cent of our sales in the automotive segment are already independent of the combustion engine,” continues Dr. Breidenbach. “With our commitment to carbon neutrality, we want to set another example in climate protection and contribute to achieve the goals of the United Nations Paris Climate Agreement, which was ratified in 2015.”

With its global energy efficiency program “Think.Act.Save.”, Hella aims to further reduce energy consumption particularly in production, which is responsible for the majority of the company’s CO₂ emissions. “For us, saving energy always comes first before all other measures,” explains Dr. Breidenbach. “That is why we will continue to consistently increase the energy efficiency of our production sites.” Not least through these measures, electricity consumption in relation to sales is to be reduced by at least 10 per cent until 2030, compared to the 2019/2020 financial year. At the same time, Hella will obtain 100 per cent of the electricity required for production from renewable energy sources by 2025 and invest in the expansion of generating global green electricity.

In order to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality in Hella’s global production network by 2025, the company will offset remaining, unavoidable emissions through certified climate protection projects. To this end, Hella will invest in selected, high-quality climate protection projects that are subject to internationally recognised certification standards. “It is obvious for us that this form of CO₂ compensation can only be a supplement and will in no way replace our ongoing search for global reduction potential,” emphasises Dr. Breidenbach.

By 2050 at the latest, Hella also aims to ensure a consistently climate-neutral supply chain worldwide and to supply customers with carbon neutral products. “Three decades sounds long at first glance. But the transformation to a completely climate-neutral supply chain is a very complex undertaking and an enormous effort that we can only succeed in together and in close exchange with our suppliers, customers and other business partners,” says Dr. Breidenbach. “Finally, we need to rethink in many aspects how we develop, manufacture and transport products around the world. We do not yet have solutions for everything, but with 2050 as the target year, we are moving within the time corridor that has been set for this. Together with our partners, we are now setting out to define the necessary milestones in detail and develop concrete action plans.”