Henkel Joins Amazon’s Climate Pledge

(Credit: The Climate Pledge)

Today, Amazon and Global Optimism announced that Henkel has joined The Climate Pledge, a commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040 — a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement’s goal of 2050. Signify, which already achieved carbon neutrality earlier this year, is also joining The Climate Pledge to collaborate with other signatories and sharing best practices.

Signatories to The Climate Pledge agree to:

• Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis;
• Implement decarbonization strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies;
• Neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially beneficial offsets to achieve net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.

Henkel has been working closely with Amazon to promote sustainable innovation—for example, to enhance customer experience through new and sustainable packaging. Henkel’s long-term goal is to become climate-positive by 2040. In the near term, the company plans to reduce the carbon footprint of its production by 65% by 2025 and 75% by 2030. By 2030, 100% of the electricity Henkel uses to power its operations will come from renewable sources. And by 2040, Henkel aims to have converted all remaining fossil fuels used in production to climate-neutral alternatives and supply surplus carbon-neutral energy to third parties. In addition, Henkel wants to leverage its brands and technologies to help customers, consumers, and suppliers save 100 million tons of CO2 in a ten-year period from 2016 to 2025.

Last year, Amazon and Global Optimism co-founded The Climate Pledge, a commitment to reach the Paris Agreement 10 years early and be net-zero carbon by 2040. Amazon was the first signatory and thirteen organizations have now signed The Climate Pledge including: Amazon, Best Buy, Henkel, Infosys, McKinstry, Mercedes-Benz, Oak View Group, Real Betis, Reckitt Benckiser, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Signify, and Verizon—sending an important signal that there will be rapid growth in demand for products and services that help reduce carbon emissions.

In September, Henkel signed a large-scale virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) relating to a new wind farm in Bee County, Texas, which will cover 100% of the electricity demand of Henkel’s operations in the US. In order to reach its goal to source 100% renewable electricity for its production sites by 2030, Henkel follows a combination of on-site production of green energy, direct purchase, and virtual coverage.