We want all our production and sales facilities to be operated efficiently and in an environmentally and climate-friendly manner. This includes saving energy and water, reducing waste, and not polluting the soil, water, and air.

PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT, RESOURCES, AND CLIMATE

With the climate catastrophe mankind is confronted with a major global challenge. Entire ecosystems are severely impaired and threatened, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and irreversible tipping points in the climate system are threatening to be reached. The changes have increasing consequences for our livelihoods and pose a growing risk to economic stability.

We want to take responsibility for climate and environmental protection. This is why environmental sustainability is an integral part of our PASSION 2025 corporate strategy and plays a key role in our business processes. We want to continuously improve UZIN UTZ's ecological footprint through responsible and efficient use of the environment and resources and continuously reduce our corporate greenhouse gas emissions as part of our environmental and climate management.

We have set ourselves the clear goal of reducing our direct emissions from business activities and our indirect emissions from energy supply by 25 % by 2025 (with reference to the base year 2019). Despite our growth we want to reduce our emissions in absolute terms in order to be able to achieve our climate targets in the long term. We also want to prepare for future business-relevant developments and increasing regulatory requirements, such as the Green Deal or the European Union's CSRD reporting obligation. As part of our environmental data management dedicated sustainability officers have been established in the subsidiaries in the core and growth countries. We have been recording individual corporate carbon footprints for these locations every year since 2019. In order to assess the achievement of our company-wide reduction target, we prepare an annual projection of our estimated greenhouse gas emissions in the target year, taking into account our corporate growth and all measures already implemented or planned. This enables us to identify important reduction levers and introduce any further reduction measures that may be necessary. Corresponding catalogs of measures have already been developed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and their implementation is in full swing. 90 % of our subsidiaries in core and growth countries use green electricity. Thanks to the use of 100 % renewable energy two production sites are already completely CO₂-neutral. In addition two new photovoltaic systems and six extensions to existing systems have been installed across the group. Further investments in photovoltaic systems are planned at various locations over the next few years. To reduce vehicle fleet emissions further measures have been introduced to electrify the fleet and numerous company vehicles have already been replaced by electric or hybrid vehicles. Many locations have put their own on-site charging stations and wall boxes at employees' homes into operation. In addition to our direct and indirect energy-related emissions, we determine the emissions of our purchased raw materials as part of a group-wide Scope 3 project in order to record our main corporate emissions. With this comprehensive environmental and climate management system we want to make our contribution to climate protection and support the achievement of the EU Green Deal targets.

Every square meter counts

In order to continue the nature-oriented plant design on the Uzin Utz SE site, some employees took part in the one-day workshop of Klima Connect Donautal on the topics of climate adaptation and biodiversity. Here, the connections between climate change, climate adaptation, biodiversity and species diversity were highlighted and ideas, concepts and action derivations for the Uzin Utz SE site were jointly developed. In order to preserve biodiversity, our employees created a 20 m² lean site using shovels and hoes.

On the newly created area, many animal species find a suitable and unfortunately hardly existing habitat - whether in the sandarium, deadwood pile, rock pile or in the beetle cellar. The "mini-wilderness" signage makes the ecological value of the area recognizable from the perspective of the animal species. We are proud to have transformed the previously unused area into a wild biotope and to have actively made a visible contribution to environmental and climate protection in the PLANET year.

HOLISTIC PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Customers expect not only high technical quality from interior flooring materials, but also environmental compatibility and health protection. The indoor air must not be polluted by solvents or other harmful substances. We meet these requirements by developing products that are solvent-free, low in pollutants and low in emissions. In order to guarantee environmentally and health-friendly solutions, we take a holistic view of our products throughout their entire life cycle. We use life cycle assessments to analyze the environmental impact of our products at all stages, from the extraction of raw materials to production, use and disposal. In this way, we ensure that our products actually contribute to a reduction in environmental impact and that negative environmental effects are not shifted to other phases of the product life cycle.

Life cycle assessments

Internally we prepare life cycle assessments as a basis for environmental comparisons, decisions and targets. For example we use the results as the basis for our climate protection targets in the area of raw materials and packaging. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used as a method for quantifying the potential environmental impact of products and services throughout their entire life cycle. It is based on the general international standards ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 and can be divided into a total of four phases. The first phase of our analysis focuses on defining the objectives and scope. We then record all material and energy inputs and outputs that occur in the life cycle of our products. Inputs include the raw materials used and the quantities of energy and water consumed. Outputs include waste and emissions that arise both in the upstream value chain and during production, use and at the end of the life cycle. Based on this data the impact analysis is carried out and key figures such as the global warming potential (GWP), also known as the carbon footprint or CO₂ balance are created. In the final phase we evaluate the results: We identify potential for more efficient use of energy and raw materials and recognize environmental impacts such as pollutant emissions and waste generation. These findings enable us to develop measures to minimize the environmental impact.

Management systems and responsibilities

Our integrated "management system for responsible action" at Uzin Utz SE is based on the internationally recognized standards DIN EN ISO 9001 and DIN EN ISO 14001. This system structures responsibilities and operational processes, serving as a foundation for continuous improvements in the area of environmental protection. The Environmental Committee is responsible for all environmental matters at our company. This committee meets regularly to discuss current environmental legislation and relevant issues. Its members include experts in the fields of environmental management, hazardous substances, waste management, energy and water management, fire protection, occupational safety and sustainability.

Water

At our headquarter water consumption is mainly due to its use in sanitary facilities, as washing water for production facilities and as an ingredient in our products. The regular cleaning of our facilities, due to our diverse range of liquid products, is a key factor here. In order to reduce water consumption and waste, we optimize the production sequence, which minimizes the need for cleaning processes. By using a cistern, some of the sanitary facilities are fed with rainwater. Water consumption continued to fall in 2023 compared to the previous year, partly due to the lower production volume of liquid products.

Waste

Waste avoidance is our top priority in waste management. To achieve this, we rely on in-depth process knowledge to precisely identify the generation of waste. Our quality assurance checks incoming raw materials and products carefully before filling to avoid faulty batches. If waste is unavoidable, we focus on recycling and proper disposal, always aiming for a high recycling rate. Where possible product residues are fed back into the production process and packaging materials such as plastic containers, paper bags and films are recycled. The volume of waste in the reporting year was similar to the previous year. In order to further reduce the remaining amount of waste and increase the potential amount that can be used in production, internal efforts are being made to improve the separation of product fractions. In order to reduce not only waste residues in production, but also the amount of waste disposed of in the entire operating process, we provide all employees with annual mandatory training on the topics of waste separation and avoidance. A waste disposal manual supports the correct disposal of waste. In addition we at Uzin Utz SE work exclusively with certified and regional waste management companies in order to meet our high standards.

Emissions to water, air and soil

Our head office has not produced any products containing solvents for over a decade, which has enabled us to successfully eliminate solvent emissions. Although the processing of powdered raw materials and the manufacture of powdered products generates minor dust emissions, our modern filter systems ensure that these emissions remain well below the legally prescribed limits. Regular maintenance of these filter systems by external specialists guarantees the long-term efficiency and functionality of our dedusting systems. Checking and compliance with the emission limits is not only ensured by our internal measurements, but also by regular emission tests carried out by TÜV.