Freudenberg Filtration Technologies aims to implement its own sustainability targets as quickly as possible with a comprehensive strategy for emission- and re- source-efficient operations. The ambitious approach focuses on significantly reducing the company’s CO2 footprint by 2025 and achieving climate neutrality by 2039. To this effect, Freudenberg leverages potential on both the company and customer side.
“Our economy is facing perhaps the most fundamental change of the last 250 years. As a technology group, we see it as our responsibility to lead the way and secure a strong market foothold in the long term,” says Dr Matthias Waldenmaier, Global Vice President Quality, Health, Safety and Environment (QHSE) at Freudenberg Filtration Technolo- gies. The Freudenberg business group therefore plans to rely on re- newable energy sources to cover around 30 percent of its energy con- sumption by 2025. The entire company is also to operate on a climate- neutral basis by 2039. Freudenberg leverages several assets to achieve this ambitious goal, distinguishing between “handprint” and “footprint”.
The ecological “footprint” comprises all the resources that Freudenberg uses to produce technologies and offer services. In this regard, the business group aims to reduce its energy and materials use as well as waste, scrap and emissions in a sustained and significant way. The “handprint” refers to the positive effects that Freudenberg products and services can have for customers – for example filtration systems that save energy during operation.
“With the footprint and handprint, Freudenberg is pursuing a far- reaching approach to sustainability that includes our customers’ pro- cesses,” Waldenmaier explains. Accordingly, the filtration specialist is working on solutions that effectively support customers in achieving their long-term sustainability goals.
Filtration systems play an important role in this regard: in Europe, fans in ventilation and air-conditioning systems account for up to 20 percent of the energy consumption in industry and commerce. Energy-efficient filters such as the Viledon® MVP EE can substantially contribute to savings. Thanks to flow-optimized filter elements, the solution reduces pressure losses at high filter performance, thus saving valuable ener- gy. In addition, durable filters with only slightly increasing pressure drops help to lower resource consumption, as they maintain high per- formance at fewer filter changes.
Besides product development, Freudenberg is focusing on ecological power generation at its own sites. Electricity use makes for the largest share of company-wide emissions, hence offering a major lever for CO2 reduction. Freudenberg began to gradually switch to electricity from renewable sources early on. The latter include regional wind and solar farms, but also photovoltaic systems that Freudenberg installed for this purpose. The site in Shunde, China – one of the largest Freudenberg sites worldwide – has been operating one of Freuden- berg’s largest installed photovoltaic systems since October 2022. The system covers 9,500 square meters and is expected to generate over 1.8 million kWh of electricity per year. This way, it not only helps to save more than 1,100 tons of CO2, but also significantly contributes to Freudenberg's sustainability goals.
In the coming years, the Freudenberg Group aims to achieve the European standard for sustainability reporting, install another photovoltaic system in Slovakia, and get a “silver” rating from the sustainability rat- ing agency EcoVadis, among other things.
