Management of Our Material Impacts, Risks and Opportunities
WACKER’s environmental management system involves taking a comprehensive approach to steer any potential environmental impacts. This includes air and water emissions, the use of water, and waste management.
WACKER has implemented a standardized process across the Group (known as an ABC assessment) to regularly identify environment-, water- and waste-related impacts, risks and opportunities and to derive any measures and targets necessary. This analysis includes the individual phases of product life cycles and fulfills the main requirements of the ISO 14001 (environmental management systems) standard.
We identify direct and indirect environmental aspects in our ABC assessment. The first step involves determining site-specific impacts and then assessing the risks and opportunities using standard criteria across the Group. In the event of a significant environmental impact that can be influenced, our environmental management system allows site-specific targets and measures to be derived and implemented.
What is more, we identify water-related aspects as part of the WACKER Water Stewardship (WaWaS) program with the aim of using predefined, groupwide criteria to identify relevant impacts on water as a resource and establishing possible fields of action.
Our risk management system involves systematically assessing procurement and logistics risks and, if necessary, defining remedy procedures. This includes bottlenecks in the case of resource inflows such as renewable resources.
In addition, WACKER monitors regulations on an ongoing basis in order to be able to act early if its products or production processes are affected. We discuss new technologies with scientific experts and policymakers.
Our upstream value chain sees similar environmental impacts, risks and opportunities. Through our Supplier Code of Conduct, we ask our suppliers to comply with all applicable environmental provisions, to cut emissions and waste, to use resources efficiently, and to use energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies. We check that our key suppliers conform by conducting audits and assessments.
We primarily tackle the impacts, risks and opportunities associated with our downstream value chain by holding discussions with customers, by offering training on how to handle our products (e.g. WACKER Academy), and by providing safety information in our product safety data sheets. Market intelligence and our close exchanges with our customers allow us to identify new requirements in good time and work together to develop new solutions.
Pollution, water and marine resources, and resource use and a circular economy are material issues for all of WACKER’s business divisions and sites as a result of being part of a global chemical company. For this reason, impacts, risks and opportunities are examined at Group level.
Our business divisions operate worldwide. They are often localized at joint sites, at which they make use of shared material loops. At our major integrated sites in Burghausen, Nünchritz, and Zhangjiagang in particular, our efficient use of resources enables us to minimize and largely avoid air and water emissions, waste, and resource consumption. These highly integrated material loops, moreover, enable us to use water several times, and as a result reduce withdrawal.
Group business fundamentals – WACKER’s production and sales sites
In terms of pollution, we see a regulatory risk for our German and other European sites first and foremost, due especially to potential tightening of the European REACH legislation for chemicals. This affects both WACKER and our customers and suppliers alike. We exchange openly with our employees, customers and suppliers, authorities, neighbors and the public, creating transparency and encouraging mutual trust. Our open house days offer residents around our sites the chance to find out more about WACKER.
