Reducing the CO2 footprint with customized screw drives
Sustainability and energy efficiency are an important topic in all sections of the drivetrain. We have set ourselves the goal of not only promoting our own sustainability, but also supporting our customers in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. The magazine antriebstechnik spoke on this topic with Daryl Bründler, our CFO and site manager for CO2/sustainability at our Burg site.
Mr. Bründler, finance and sustainability are often perceived as opposites. At Eichenberger Gewinde in Burg, you are responsible for both areas as Head of Finance on the Management Board and Site Manager for Sustainability - is that difficult?
On the contrary! The principle of sustainability is the same in both an ecological and an economic sense - the careful use of resources. As a medium-sized company rooted in its Swiss region, sustainability is not a question of money for us, but of responsibility. The increasing importance of our natural resources will also lead to them being given greater weight in our economic system. I am convinced that sustainable thinking and action in an ecological sense will also lead to economic sustainability for companies. The price of CO2 will rise sharply, which means that avoiding CO2 emissions will also pay off financially. We want to anticipate this development and make it easier for our customers to also follow this path. As part of the Festo Group, which is pursuing these goals as a whole, we benefit from synergy effects.
What exactly does that look like?
Sustainability is of strategic importance to Festo. The Group has committed itself to corporate sustainability based on the goals of the United Nations. Festo will massively reduce its CO2 footprint in the coming years. Since 2023, all our buildings in Germany and our global production and logistics sites have been CO2-neutral in terms of our Scope 2 emissions and we are offsetting our Scope 1 emissions. In 2024, two years earlier than planned, this will apply to the entire Festo Group. Festo's commitment in this area has already been recognized with awards. In November, the company received the German Sustainability Award. Festo was also recently named a Successful Practice Company in the field of sustainability by RWTH Aachen University and the Complexity Management Academy. In the Festo Group, we always think about the best and most efficient solution, also in terms of sustainability. We provide a learning program to train our employees in this direction. We therefore see sustainable transformation as a shared journey with all our employees, customers and suppliers. As part of the Festo Group, Eichenberger Gewinde is fully committed to this journey.
How does Eichenberger Gewinde support its customers in pursuing and achieving sustainable goals?
First of all, we ensure transparency. The Festo Group is regularly audited and is listed on various platforms, including Eco Vadis. Eco Vadis measures the quality of a company's sustainability management system. This underlines our seriousness in this area. It is a great advantage for our customers that we can quantify our greenhouse gas emissions in Scope 1 and Scope 2 very well. We are also making good progress with Scope 3.
Can you briefly differentiate between Scope 1 and 3?
The terms Scope 1 to 3 originate from the GHG Protocol, a privately organized and internationally recognized series of standards for the accounting of greenhouse gas emissions and the associated reporting for companies. Scope 1 refers to all of a company's direct emissions. In other words, those that are easiest to influence. Scope 2 are the emissions from purchased energy and Scope 3 finally includes all other indirect emissions resulting from the production and transportation of purchased goods and similar. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CRSD) sets out clear rules for companies' sustainability reporting and includes scopes 1 to 3. From 2026, SMEs will also have to comply with this obligation and submit figures for 2025.
How far has Eichenberger Gewinde already come in reducing and quantifying emissions?
We have the directly controllable and measurable emissions under Scope 1 well under control. We pay very close attention to sustainability in everything from our lighting to our vehicle fleet. We have a modern machine fleet with low emissions and a long service life. We address Scope 2 by installing photovoltaic systems and using locally produced energy from Switzerland, largely from hydropower. We also pay attention to the choice of materials and have organized our own development and construction according to sustainability criteria. Finally, our production technology, rolling, is also particularly effective in terms of avoiding waste, among other things. Scope 3 is of course the most difficult aspect, as we can hardly influence emissions along the supply chain. We rely on local suppliers whenever possible and use other approaches to calculate the CO2 values for our production in the best possible way.
To what extent do Eichenberger Gewinde's customers benefit from these sustainability initiatives?
Well, we are the Scope 3 of our customers. The better our figures, the better the figures of our customers. In addition to the fact that we can calculate the CO2 consumption of our products, the recycling of our products and the low waste generated by our production methods also play a role. A fundamental advantage of screw drives is that they are a very energy-efficient and therefore sustainable drive solution. Thanks to our ability to adapt our products to the individual needs of our customers, we are able to offer products that not only fit perfectly into our customers' products and processes, but also use only as much material and energy as necessary. Among other things, we rely on effective lubrication solutions, including lifetime lubrication, which greatly increases the service life of Eichenberger products. In this way, users also reduce their Scope 1 and 2 values.
What are Eichenberger Gewinde's plans for the coming years?
We will continuously reduce our Scope 1 emissions through a technology transformation in order to achieve net zero by 2040 as planned. In addition, we will gradually reduce our Scope 3 emissions through various measures, with a focus on the efficient production and use of our products.
Click here for the original Interview from antriebstechnik.
