The Voith Group has published the 13th edition of its annual Sustainability Report for fiscal year 2021/22.
The focus is on the sustainability strategy, resource efficiency and employee safety in the company’s own activities. In addition, the Sustainability Report shows how Voith products and services help customers worldwide achieve their sustainability goals. “We want to make a measurable contribution to the sustainable development of the economy and society,” explains Dr. Toralf Haag, CEO, Voith Group. “To this end, we make our actions transparent and comprehensible through comprehensive reporting.”
In the paper industry, Voith Paper sets the standards in the area of resource-saving paper production. As part of its Papermaking for Life sustainability program, the supplier has set ambitious targets for 2030 to significantly improve its customers’ carbon footprint:
- 100% CO2-neutral paper production thanks to energy-optimised products, digital solutions, disruptive concepts and the efficient use of renewable energies;
- 90% fresh water savings thanks to a completely new papermaking process;
- 90% recycling rate thanks to the development of new fibre streams;
In total, Voith Paper invests around €100m per year in the development of efficient and sustainable innovations. To drive decarbonization forward, Voith Paper is focusing on four areas in its research and development work: Voith Paper is continuously optimizing its existing product portfolio to reduce energy consumption. One example here is the newly developed InduraClean (IDC) product family. Depending on requirements, the focus of the modular cleaning technology can be placed on significantly increased production, energy reduction of up to 50 percent or vastly improved separation efficiency. On the other hand, digital solutions ensure improved process efficiency with reduced shutdowns, which also reduces CO2emissions. In order to realize CO2-neutral paper production by 2030, Voith Paper is also working with partners on disruptive concepts that have the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by further 50 percent. The fourth R&D area focuses on using renewable energies as efficiently as possible and identifying suitable storage options.
As a family-owned company, Voith also feels a particular responsibility to avoid environmental risks and to use resources responsibly in its own operations. The company’s commitment was confirmed by the independent rating agency ISS ESG, which again awarded Voith a premium rating of B- last year. This makes Voith one of the world’s top companies in plant and mechanical engineering.
The Voith Sustainability Report 2022 contains many other examples, research and development areas, and projects examples that illustrate Voith’s commitment to sustainability. The Voith Sustainability Report is now available for download.
