Kärcher has published its sustainability report for last year. According to the German wash specialist, their CO₂ emissions per million euros of turnover in 2023 were only 7.8 tons compared to 12.7 tons in 2020.

Hartmut Jenner, Chairman of the Management Board, draws a positive interim balance: “We have already exceeded the ambitious target of reducing our CO2 emissions by 21 percent by 2025.” Compared to the base year 2020, Kärcher reduced the CO2 emissions of its production and logistics locations by 16,660 tons by 2023, which corresponds to 28 percent.

“I am particularly pleased that we have achieved this performance in a period in which the company has grown significantly.” Accordingly, CO₂ emissions per million euros of turnover in 2023 were only 7.8 tons compared to 12.7 tons in 2020.

Software instead of manpower

The switch to green electricity from in-house and third-party providers has made a significant contribution. In 2023 alone, the company installed photovoltaic systems with a potential annual output of 1,400,000 kWh on its buildings. The impact of even small measures can be seen at the Bühlertal plant in Germany, where the compressor network has recently been centrally controlled by software. This saves 110,000 kWh of electricity per year compared to the previous manual control system.

Another goal is to optimize all product packaging for sustainability. They currently consist of at least 80 percent recycled paper. By switching to paper, Kärcher managed to reduce it’s plastic waste with 68.8 tons last year. It also developed an award-winning packaging concept for the SC 3 Upright steam cleaner in cooperation with a partner: the inlays are made of compostable pea starch obtained from waste.

“We will continue to work on pursuing this path in the future”, says Paul Zimmermann v. Siefart, Head of Corporate Sustainability. “This includes, for example, further improving our CO2 balance, intensifying the use of recyclates and continuing to reduce the amount of product packaging.”

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