“Our promise applies not only to our more than 30 locations throughout the world but also to our entire supply chain,” says Anne Wedel-Klein, great-granddaughter of the company’s founder, Martin Bauer, and member of the holding company’s executive board. “This means that our climate-neutral business activities will begin on the fields, where our more than 200 raw materials, such as tea, peppermint, hibiscus, chamomile and fennel grow. Around half of our emissions originate here.”
The Group will follow a three-pronged approach to keep global emissions down:
- Measure: The Group will calculate its entire carbon footprint—including its global supply chains—by the end of 2021, and the calculation will be audited by an independent body. From 2022 onward, developments will be presented annually to make progress transparent.
- Prevent/Reduce: The top priority is to prevent greenhouse gas emissions in the first place. The Group is taking measures such as avoiding business trips wherever digital technology suffices. It is also improving energy efficiency at its production plants, implementing energy-saving programs, and promoting environmentally friendly mobility.
- Compensate: The Group will compensate for greenhouse gas emissions that cannot be prevented or reduced, largely by working with its agricultural supply chains to implement concepts like compost management, sustainable carbon sequestration, and humus formation in the soil.
The Group is already using green electricity in offices, warehouses, and production plants in Germany; all sites globally will do the same by 2025. The company is working with its supply chain globally with a target of zero emissions by 2030, supporting its raw material partners in calculating their emissions, identifying the most effective ways to reduce those emissions, and sharing know-how and best-practice experience.Related: Martin Bauer Group Releases Sustainability Report PCC Eliminating the Sale of 100k Single-Use Plastic Bottles Yearly Organic Valley Farms Reports Lower-Than-Average Carbon Footprints
“What makes this commitment truly special is that it involves every single person in our organization: less a “mandate” from the top than a spontaneous and committed surge through the rank and file; a multi-generational, all-in push not only to do the right thing professionally, but to do that while contributing personally and factually to everyone’s, and our only planet’s, brighter future,” says Ennio Ranaboldo, the CEO of Martin Bauer Group North America. “Now, that’s empowering. And that’s power, too!”Gisbert Braun, Head of Group Sustainability—Social and Environment, added: ““With our measures in pursuit of climate neutrality, we are aiming to achieve comprehensive sustainable development that can benefit the climate and human beings. This is precisely the kind of change we want to achieve as we grow our group of companies and our supply chains.”
