Climate protection organisation SBTi confirms Krones' net zero target

Objectively validated: The Krones Group's Net Zero strategy corresponds to the current state of science and is in line with the 1.5-degree Celsius target of the Paris Climate Agreement. This is the final judgement of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

As the globally recognised climate protection organisation states in its letter of approval, the assessment was preceded by a careful validation process. Both the medium and long-term emission reduction targets were analysed. Krones' entire Executive Board announced the latter in April of this year: Accordingly, the Group plans to have reduced its greenhouse gas emissions along the entire value chain to net zero by 2040. According to the SBTi criteria, this means in concrete figures: Krones will reduce its emissions along the entire value chain by at least 90 per cent and neutralise the remaining ten per cent. The calculation is based on the year 2019.

Resource-efficient technologies in vogue

Krones is well on track with the implementation of its climate strategy: the Group has made the greatest progress to date with its own emissions in Scopes 1 and 2, which have already been reduced by 51 per cent compared to the base year.

The measures in the downstream value chain are also on target. From 2022 to 2023 alone, emissions from the use phase of Krones products fell by ten per cent - even though sales increased by more than twelve per cent in the same period. This is due in particular to the increasing demand for enviro products: ‘When we launched our TÜV SÜD-certified enviro programme in 2008, we were a little ahead of our time,’ explains Martina Birk, Head of Sustainability. ‘In the meantime, the demand for production technologies that realise high performance with reduced resource consumption has increased significantly. Saving energy and water - and therefore also operating costs - is now one of our customers' top priorities.’

Important signal to the market

For Krones, supporting this trend was one of the reasons for submitting its own climate targets to SBTi. ‘We want to send a signal to the market and our stakeholders. Economic profitability and climate responsibility are not contradictory, but must go hand in hand with a view to the future of us all - even if it takes a lot of effort,’ emphasises CEO Christoph Klenk. ‘The SBTi validation of our net zero target clearly proves that the resource-intensive industrial goods business can also be aligned with the criteria of the Paris Climate Agreement. I hope and hope that our example will encourage even more companies to join the growing global ‘Mission Net Zero’.’

Additional information: Evidence and ratings

Krones is a member of the ‘Business Ambition for 1.5°C’ campaign of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Within this framework, the Group has committed itself to a systematic reduction in emissions in accordance with the findings and recommendations of climate science. To create transparency for customers, investors and analysts, the company also participates in recognised rating and audit formats. Krones received an ‘A-’ rating from CDP in the ‘Climate Change’ category in 2023 (‘Water Security’: B). The current EcoVadis scorecard from August 2024 was awarded a gold medal.