Henkel 2023 Sustainability Report: Trusted Partner

Originally published in the Henkel 2023 Sustainability Report

We draw on our value-oriented corporate culture and our scientific and technological expertise to strengthen our performance while maintaining our integrity. We deliver safe and best-in-class product and technology solutions to our customers and consumers. We integrate sustainability into our portfolio and our business processes, and we provide transparent reporting about this to our stakeholders.

Performance

With our wide range of product solutions and technologies, we aim to support economic, environmental and social transformation – and to drive it forward together with our partners. This will make it possible for us to contribute effectively to sustainable development both locally and globally, and to shape our business responsibly while increasing our economic success. To achieve this, we must offer our customers and consumers reliable, best-in-class product quality and safety.

It is our continuous ambition that each new product contributes to sustainability. We also intend to provide our customers and consumers with a comprehensive sustainability profile of our products by 2025. We aim to measure sustainable transformation with respect to our product portfolio and our company. Our target for 2030 for the entire company is to triple the value we create for the environmental footprint made by our operations, products and services (compared to the base year 2010). We call this target to become three times more efficient “Factor 3.” The increase in efficiency results from the ratio of revenue per sales volume relative to the environmental footprint per production volume. The three dimensions of the environmental footprint – CO2 emissions, waste and water – are equally weighted. In 2023, we increased revenue per sales volume by 51 percent compared to our base year of 2010. In addition, we reduced CO2 emissions by 61 percent per ton of product, used 24 percent less water and generated 38 percent less production waste compared to our base year of 2010. On average, we were able to reduce the environmental footprint across these three dimensions by 41 percent. The increase in efficiency totaled 156 percent in 2023.

A high degree of innovativeness is essential for sustainable and efficient transformation, which is why criteria for assessing the sustainability of our products are systematically anchored in our innovation process. In 2023, an annual average of around 2,750 employees worked in research and development. Adjusted R&D expenditures totaled 580 million euros. 

It is our obligation and our commitment to ensure that our products are safe for people and the environment. This reflects our commitment to operating our business in an ethically and legally appropriate manner, which is crucial to fostering and maintaining trust in our products. We conduct comprehensive risk analyses and audits to ensure compliance with external requirements and our internal standards worldwide.

Transparency

Transparency is essential for assessing responsible action and sustainability performance. This applies both inside and outside the company. 

Business partners and consumers, as well as investors and the financial market, are increasingly interested in products and solutions that are sustainability-oriented, and they attach more and more importance to understanding the impact of our activities along the value chain. International developments in sustainable finance and legislation are further strengthening the drive for greater transparency. 

At the same time, it is crucial for us to be able to assess and manage our own sustainability and to measure the progress that we make toward our targets across the entire company and our value chain. To this end, we are driving digital solutions and drawing on cross-business unit and cross-functional collaboration and external partnerships worldwide. This strengthens our information base and builds necessary confidence in our sustainability performance. Our aspiration is to further integrate sustainability into our business governance, processes and policies while promoting transparent reporting, compliance with disclosure requirements and engagement. 

The assessment and recognition of our performance by independent sustainability experts also creates transparency. As investors and customers increasingly focus on ESG topics, this is also reflected in the importance of these external assessments. Our participation in recognized ratings and rankings and our inclusion in numerous sustainability indices enable us to meet these information requirements.

Collaboration

Sustainable development requires a commitment to action, as well as cooperation with effective partners. The interlinking of different perspectives is an especially good basis for embracing the complex and globally interlinked context of sustainability. 

This is how specialized knowledge and resources can be effectively combined to drive transformational change. We understand collaboration to mean adopting responsible business practices and acting sustainably in partnership along the entire value chain. 

Accordingly, we use a responsible sourcing approach to take a comprehensive view of sustainability aspects along our supply chains, including cooperation with our suppliers. Cooperation with our customers is equally important. With our solutions, we aim to create the greatest possible value for our industry customers and business partners, and to drive sustainability in the focus areas of climate, the circular economy and safety. We also believe it is important to work closely with our retail partners to promote sustainable and resource-efficient consumption. 

Furthermore, we are committed to engaging in active dialog with our stakeholders. We are involved in initiatives worldwide together with industry representatives and civil society players, and participate in political and social discussions. This networking helps us to make a more holistic assessment of impacts on the economy, the environment and society, and to develop systemic solutions together.

Learn more about Henkel's commitment to product quality and safety while ensuring business success with integrity in the 2023 Sustainability Report.