Emissions and energy

The Schwabe Group upholds its responsibility in the field of climate change. The majority of CO₂ emissions created worldwide, including our own, result from manufacturing and transporting products as well as from marketing and using them.

Conserving energy and preventing emissions which harm the environment are issues of critical importance in the context of sustainability; approaches such as decarbonization have an impact here. One particular challenge is to lower the energy consumption of a company even in the face of ongoing corporate growth and a rise in the related technical demands (such as those involving manufacturing, storing and transportation).

Conserving energy and using it more efficiently

The Schwabe Group belongs to an industry that is energy-intensive. One reason for this is the high legal standards we as a pharmaceutical manufacturer must fulfill in terms of hygiene. For example, large quantities of filtered air are constantly being moved, warmed and cooled in the course of our manufacturing operations. Our very specific manufacturing conditions do not offer any major options in terms of conserving resources. Furthermore, our extraction processes consume a great amount of energy, and they comply with legal regulations. As a rule, the processes themselves do not offer any great potential for optimization that would bring us closer to our goal of being carbon-neutral: instead, the objective is to generate energy using different sources and use it as efficiently as possible.

That said, we are convinced that if something is good for the climate, it is good for our company. We very attentively monitor our use of heat and electricity, and already we have successfully been able to reduce usage or find substitutions which prevent emissions.  Furthermore, we are optimizing energy efficiency.

Better for the climate - our achievements to date

Since 2009, we have continuously been implementing measures to reduce the Schwabe Group’s CO₂ footprint. Here are some of them:

The carbon footprint of the Schwabe Group

In late 2021, the Schwabe Group published our first carbon footprint for its German sites. This entailed calculating energy consumption in 2019 and 2020 so we could track our energy consumption along with the resulting emissions which are detrimental to the climate.

Das Greenhouse Gas Protocol

To calculate our carbon footprint, we followed the general guidelines established in the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, an internationally acknowledged standard which allows businesses to report transparently about their emissions. 

The GHG Protocol defines three categories, Scopes 1-3. These scopes are designed to provide clarity and to create a distinction between direct and indirect sources of emissions.

Our global carbon footprint

The Schwabe Group’s first carbon footprint comprised only the German sites.  The sustainability workgroup continues to work on action areas which were highlighted in this report and is implementing wide-ranging measures at the Karlsruhe sites.

In late 2022 we were also able to publish our first Group-wide carbon footprint for 2021. This brought about a number of multifaceted approaches and action areas which will help us become a carbon-neutral global corporate group.

Our climate goal

Based on the global carbon footprint, we were able to formulate our first major climate goal: by 2030 the Schwabe Group intends to reduce its CO₂ emissions in Scope 1 and 2 by 50% in comparison to its baseline year of 2021. We want to be carbon-neutral by 2035.

There are significant challenges ahead of us, some of which will involve investments. In the long term, however, there is no alternative to becoming carbon-neutral. And the Schwabe Group will do its part. Thanks to having estimated our CO₂ footprint and the subsequent measures to lower our energy consumption, we have already seen some significant improvements.

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