Climate Action

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing mankind today. Observations and calculations provide evidence of the connection between climate change and emissions of greenhouse gases as a result of human activities. Increasing average temperatures, rising sea levels, the increase of extreme weather events, such as torrential rain, drought, and extreme heat are indications of changes in our climate. As well as limiting greenhouse gas emissions, we also have to adjust to the changes.
On December 2015, the signatories to the Paris Agreement agreed to combat climate change and its consequences. The agreement includes a global plan of action to keep the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in order to minimize the risks associated with climate change. It is hoped that worldwide greenhouse gas emissions will soon reach a peak, although less developed countries have been given more time. Parallel to this, the states want to increase their ability to adapt to the changing climate and to provide international support to help less developed countries face the challenges of climate change. 

Next Generation Solutions (handprint)

We already generate 43 percent of our sales with products and solutions that have a strongly positive sustainability profile. We aim to increase the proportion of sales generated with these Next Generation Solutions to over 50 percent by 2030.

Next Generation Technologies (footprint)

Evonik supports the objectives of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. This is underscored by our commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Between 2021 and 2030, we aim to reduce our scope 1 and 2 emissions by 25 percent. For the reduction in our scope 3 emissions, we are committed to a target of 11 percent 1. Our targets are aligned to the SBTi target level of “well below 2 °C.

Worldwide, 23 percent of electricity purchased by Evonik from external suppliers already comes from renewable sources. In 2026 we will increase this substantially to around 50 percent. At the same time, this reduces scope 2 emissions (purchased power) by 150,000 metric tons CO₂ a year. Our goal is to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions from 6.3 million metric tons to 4.7 million metric tons between 2021 and 2030. About one-third of this reduction should be achieved by using renewable energies.

In addition to green electricity, biomethane is becoming increas­ingly important for Evonik as a substitute for fossil-based natural gas. At our site in Schörfling am Attersee (Austria), we increased the proportion of biomethane from 25 percent to 100 percent in 2022.

• Reduce absolute scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by 25 percent between 2021 and 2030.
• Reduce absolute scope 3 emissions 2 by 11 percent 3 between 2021 and 2030.