Sustainability & Climate Protection

Leading the precious metals industry
into a sustainable future

Table of Contents

Precious metals are not only essential to enable our modern life. With its products, the precious metals industry makes an important contribution to tackling climate change. For example, with silver pastes in photovoltaic modules, in PEM electrolysis for the production of green hydrogen and in catalytic converters for exhaust gas purification. We cannot do without them.

At the same time, the extraction and processing of precious metals involves an enormous energy input and CO2 footprint. As a leading company in the precious metals industry, we are pioneering ahead.

By 2025, Heraeus Precious Metals will be the first company in the precious metals industry to operate carbon neutral.

Svea Scherleithner

“We have committed to an ambitious goal: being CO2 neutral by 2025. However, setting a goal is not enough. Sustainability is a true transformation project and needs to underlie everything we do. It leads us to rethink processes and entire business cases.”

Svea Scherleithner
Global Head of Sustainability Heraeus Precious Metals

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Sustainability Reporting & ESG Ratings​

Sustainability Rating Logos

More Information

Here you can find more information on our Ecovadis and CDP rating and commitment to the Science Based Targets Initiative.

Our Decarbonization Roadmap

Decarbonization Roadmap
Decarbonization roadmap for Scope 1&2 Emissions

How We Move Towards Zero​

Avoidance and Efficiency – ​The greenest energy is the one we can avoid.​

Goal: 20% energy efficiency increase in current processes, ​referring to our base year 2019.​

This ambition has been integrated in all our business processes:​

  • Break down to site- and business unit level​
  • Synchronization with finance processes in terms of ​carbon footprint tracking and evaluation of investment decisions​
  • Part of the bonus targets for all managers worldwide​

We are on track to achieve this goal. ​Local teams are driving the activities and define their roadmaps.​

Green Electricity – Local green electricity at a competitive price.​

Goal: 100% green electricity in all regions we are present by 2025, ​securing competitive prices.​

We strive for solutions that add renewable energy to the local grid.​

Solutions in place:​

  • Solar panel installations at all our 11 production sites by 2023​
  • Long-term PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) signed for local solar plants in Germany​

Projects for the next years include early stage wind- and solar projects in proximity to our sites.​

New Technologies – ​For a world that does not depend on fossil fuels.​

Goal: We will move away from fossil fuels until 2033.​

  • Natural gas is currently used in our combustion processes.
  • ​Avoiding natural gas implies fundamental changes to our ​processes and infrastructure.​
  • From today, every investment we make ​needs to live up to this target.​
  • Between 2025 and 2033 we will offset remaining emissions from fossil fuels with meaningful projects in the regions we are operating.​

Offset Emissions.​

Keep at a minimum​
Invest in meaningful compensation projects​

Compensate our emissions by funding others to reduce emissions of an equivalent size.​

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