Annual Report 2022

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Creating tomorrow’s solutions

Product Assessment Based on Sustainability Criteria

When assessing the sustainability of our products, we take account of economic, environmental and social aspects throughout the entire product life cycle. The tool we use to evaluate our product portfolio is the WACKER Sustainable Solutions program. We also make use of the WACKER ECOWHEEL® and perform life cycle assessments. These enable us to track the progress of a product from its manufacture through to when it leaves the factory gate.

  • We use the WACKER ECOWHEEL® to identify key sustainability topics at a qualitative level and, together with our stakeholders, set priorities for research projects. Our evaluations factor in a product’s material, water and energy consumption, as well as its ecotoxicity, over the entire life cycle.
  • In the WACKER Sustainable Solutions program, we assess the sustainability aspects of our product portfolio in line with the standards set by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). We study the life cycles of products and their usage under specific regional requirements. As a basis for these assessments, we compile products in what are called PARCs (Product/Product group in one Application in one Region in Combination). We examine toxicological classification, regulatory and social criteria, controversial industries and raw materials, as well as sustainability-related aspects across the entire product life cycle. Every assessed PARC unit is assigned to one of five sustainability categories.

Our target is for 100 percent of our products to fulfill defined sustainability criteria by 2030.

In the reporting period, WACKER earned 90 percent of its sales with sustainable products. For the majority of the remaining products we have defined measures to either improve sustainability performance or replace the product.

2030 Target: 100% of our Products Fulfill Sustainability Criteria

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

%

 

2022

 

2021

 

2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share of sales from products meeting defined sustainability criteria

 

90

 

89

 

83

  • Our life cycle assessments (LCAs) quantify the environmental impact of our products from their manufacture through to the moment they leave the factory gate. Cradle-to-gate analyses such as these allow us to evaluate the sustainability of our products and production processes, and to improve them accordingly. When preparing an LCA, we take account of all relevant, potentially harmful effects on soil, air and water, as well as all material flows associated with the system in question. That includes raw-material consumption and emissions from supply and disposal processes, from power generation and from transport.
  • To this end we have launched a groupwide project that will allow WACKER to automatically calculate the carbon footprint of all of its products by late 2024 and to update this information annually. Calculations will be carried out in compliance with the rules of the Product Carbon Footprint standard defined in the Together for Sustainability initiative.
Emission
Substance outputs, noise, vibrations, light, heat or radiation emitted into the environment by an industrial plant.