HEIDELBERG SIGNS SUSTAINABILITY PACT

Offset press manufacturer Heidelberg has signed up to the UN Global Compact, the world's biggest global corporate sustainability initiative, which will see the company be carbon neutral by the end of the decade.

Heidelberg says that by joining it is underlining its commitment to aligning its corporate strategy with the UN Global Compact's ten sustainability principles on human rights, labour standards, environmental protection, and anti-corruption.

"We see our participation in the UN Global Compact as a logical step in our efforts to have the smallest ecological footprint along the entire value chain in our industry. The company has already actively promoted environmental protection and social responsibility in the past, and will further strengthen these efforts by becoming a part of the UN Global Compact," said Dr. Ludwin Monz, CEO of Heidelberg.

The company has committed itself to climate neutrality (Scope 1 and 2, excluding Scope 3) at its production, development, and sales sites by 2030.

Priority is given to increasing energy efficiency, reducing CO2 emissions, and substantially increasing the share of in-house electricity production through renewable energies. As an important milestone in achieving these goals, Heidelberg has just commissioned the group's largest photovoltaic system at its Amstetten site. Any remaining CO2 emissions that cannot be avoided by means of optimisation measures will be neutralised in the future by means of voluntary compensation.

From 2040, Heidelberg aims to manage without offsetting (Scope 1 and 2, without Scope 3).

Heidelberg has already been implementing many different measures to support the sustainability principles. These are bundled in the sustainability strategy and regular information on the status and ongoing activities is provided both in the group's non-financial statement and in the UN Global Compact (COP) progress report.

Based on the ten universal principles and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, the UN Global Compact, launched in 2000, pursues the vision of an inclusive and sustainable economy. Some 21,000 companies and organisations in 160 countries are already signatories to the UN Global Compact.