Production

Goals & Outlook

Production

Long-Term Goals

Lower our average specific energy consumption (amount of energy per net production volume) by 50 percent, with 2007 as the base year.

Corporate entity: WACKER Germany

Deadline: 2022

Reduce specific CO2 emissions by 15 percent per metric ton of net production – while maintaining a comparable product portfolio – from 2012 onward.

Corporate entity: WACKER Germany

Deadline: 2022

Reduce specific dust emissions (per metric ton produced) by 50 percent, with 2012 as the base year.

Corporate entity: Groupwide

Deadline: 2022

Reduce specific emissions of relevant (VOCs per metric ton produced) by 25 percent, with 2012 as the base year.

Corporate entity: Groupwide

Deadline: 2022

No incidents with relevant environmental inputs

Corporate entity: Groupwide

Deadline: Annually

Implementation status:

Goal was achieved in 2017. The loss event at the Charleston, USA site in September 2017 did not cause any relevant substance input into the environment.

Five metric tons of vinyl acetate (webpage available in German only; easily flammable and German Water Pollution Class 2) leaked from a pipe that had not been closed following maintenance work at the Burghausen site in April 2018. A relevant amount soaked into pervious ground and was eliminated by local remediation measures.

New Goals

Reduce specific NOx emissions by 25 percent, with 2012 as the base year.

Corporate entity: Groupwide

Deadline: 2022

The long-term goals regarding CO2 emissions and energy consumption that applied at WACKER Germany have now been extended to the WACKER Group.

Reduce specific CO2 emissions by a third, with 2012 as the base year.

Corporate entity: Groupwide

Deadline: 2030

Reduce specific energy consumption by half, with 2007 as the base year.

Corporate entity: Groupwide

Deadline: 2030

Reduce specific energy consumption by an annual 1.5 percent.

Corporate entity: business divisions

Deadline: annual (operational target)

Future Topics

Energy

We are modernizing the Burghausen site’s combined heat and power (CHP) plant for electricity and steam generation by installing a new gas turbine. This turbine operates more efficiently and more environmentally soundly than the existing one, which is almost 20 years old. Our investment helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions further. With an output of 130 MW, the new gas turbine achieves fuel efficiency of more than 86 percent.

By making this investment, we will reduce (CO2) emissions by some 300,000 metric tons a year compared to the current public energy mix. Thanks to improved waste-gas technology, emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) will drop by around 30 percent.

Water

We have been taking various measures since the start of 2019 to help improve our rating in the CDP’s Water Security Report (2017 reporting year).

Nature Conservation

We launched a project in 2019 to upgrade the ecological status of unused green spaces at the Burghausen site with the aim of improving the habitat for insects.

A section of the embankment of the Alz canal near the Burghausen site is being cultivated as a wildflower meadow to encourage local flora and attract insects. As the owner of this land, we are using this project to stimulate ecological development in partnership with the Landschaftspflegeverband Altötting (Altötting Landscape Conservation Association; German-language website only). The project is supported by the Bavarian Environment Ministry’s landscape conservation program.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are gaseous and vaporous substances of organic origin that are present in the air. They include hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes and organic acids. Solvents, liquid fuels and synthetic substances can be VOCs, and so can organic compounds originating from biological processes. High VOC concentrations can be irritating to the eyes, nose and throat and may cause headaches, dizziness and tiredness.
Carbon Dioxide
Chemical name: CO2. This gas naturally constitutes 0.04% of air. Carbon dioxide is generated during the combustion of coal, natural gas and other organic substances. As a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, it contributes to global warming. Since the start of industrialization in 1850, its concentration in air has risen from approx. 300 to 390 ppm (parts per million). This value is increasing by around 2 ppm every year. Other greenhouse gases are represented as CO2 equivalents (CO2e) based on their greenhouse effect.