Grohe has stepped up its sustainability plans and will offset unavoidable CO2 emissions with compensation projects to achieve carbon-neutral status.
The company has pledged support to architect Marcella Hansch’s Pacific Garbage Screening (PGS) project to reduce plastic waste in the ocean. PGS is a floating platform (pictured) that extracts plastic particles from the water in oceans and rivers.
The company has had sustainability as a focus since 2000 and from 2014 the German-based manufacturer increased energy efficiency by 24% and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 40%.
In July 2019, all five Grohe production plants and the logistic centres in Germany were converted to green electricity.
Starting in April 2020, Grohe will offset unavoidable CO2 emissions through two compensation projects. In the north of India, hydroelectric power will replace electricity that previously came mainly from coal-fired plants. In the African country of Malawi, Grohe will support a project that repairs and maintains boreholes that are used to produce drinking water.
Thomas Fuhr, chief executive of Grohe AG, said: “With Grohe goes Zero, we are further expanding our leading position as one of the most sustainable brands in the sanitary industry. But at the same time, we have by no means reached all of our sustainability goals – we can and must get even better.”
Grohe says that is has a ‘360- degree sustainability approach’, which includes employees, suppliers, customers, processes, products and the company’s social contribution.
In the past year, a number of other KBB manufacturers have come forward with its sustainability of carbon-neutral plans. Rotpunkt and Kohler Mira have pledged to be carbon-neutral by 2020 and 2035 respectively. Lakes has already been certified as carbon-neural and has moved to recyclable packaging.
Fuhr added: “More than ever, manufacturers like Grohe are in demand to take on responsibility and strive towards more sustainability.
“For years now, we have been investing not only in research and development in order to produce intelligent, sustainable solutions, but also to a large degree in a resource-saving value chain. With Grohe goes Zero, we are now setting an example for the entire industry: We are actively addressing the CO2 challenge by increasingly avoiding emissions and, if this is not possible, compensating for them.”