Energy use increased – waste and water use reduced

Sulzer is aware of its environmental responsibility and designs products with the highest efficiency levels. In 2017, the company’s own environmental performance was strongly affected by several major changes in Sulzer’s organization and business mix.

Since pumps can consume a large portion of the energy of your operations, they should run as efficiently and with as few emissions as possible. Sulzer’s design teams recognize these issues and develop new and more energy-efficient products and solutions constantly.

More efficient, less energy consumption

High efficiency levels and low energy consumption characterize Sulzer’s products. They use as little material as possible while conforming to the company’s high quality standards. Because it is not always necessary to replace your existing equipment, Sulzer offers revamps, retrofits, and upgrades to increase efficiency and extend its lifetime – irrespective of the brand. To achieve ideal efficiency levels throughout the product life cycle, Sulzer advises its customers on the safe and efficient installation, operation, maintenance, and disposal of their equipment.

Businesses with diverse footprints

The company reports on its energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, waste production, and water consumption, because Sulzer considers these as material for its operations. The company’s overall goal is to maintain, but ideally to improve, performance measured against working hours compared with the previous year. Sulzer’s products and services differ widely from one another; its portfolio encompasses pumps, separation equipment, and applicators as well as services for rotating equipment or for turnaround projects. These businesses have different requirements and different ecological footprints. Thus, Sulzer follows a local approach to reducing its environmental impact. The business units and local sites evaluate their footprints and set their agendas individually.

Comprehensive reporting system

Sulzer has a comprehensive reporting system in place to collect financial and extrafinancial data at the site level. The company uses the number of total working hours as a reference. The total number of working hours remained steady because the reduction of working hours through restructuring measures was offset by additional working hours from newly acquired businesses. In 2017, 76% of total working hours reported on environmental data (2016: 78%). The number is slightly lower than in the previous year because the newly acquired businesses are not yet fully integrated into the environmental data collection process. The coverage of HR and occupational health and safety data is 100% (of total working hours). The organization collects extrafinancial data according to two different reporting cycles and confirms the accuracy of the figures through regular internal audits:

Large shifts in energy use, water consumption, and waste patterns

In 2017, Sulzer’s environmental performance was strongly affected by several major changes in Sulzer’s organization and business mix. The company continued to implement restructuring measures and to consolidate its real estate portfolio. At the same time, Sulzer grew with the creation of the new Applicator Systems (APS) division and several acquisitions.

Because of the closing of the foundry in Karhula, a major consumer of district heating, energy, and water, and one of the highest contributors to Sulzer’s waste stream, disappeared from the Sulzer portfolio. At the same time, the Geka business, which uses a lot of energy, was integrated. These large shifts in use and waste patterns make it difficult to compare Sulzer’s environmental impact on a like-for-like basis with previous years.

Overall energy use increased slightly by 1.5%, and the rate of energy consumption per 1’000 working hours increased by 7.5%. This increase is mainly associated with the APS business; it uses injection-molding machinery that consumes a lot of energy and its rate of utilization is very high.

The amount of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) increased by 27.2%. In 2017, Sulzer expanded the scope 3 reporting boundary and included air travel emissions. They were the largest contributor to the company’s GHG footprint, adding more than 21% compared with last year’s emissions.

The closing of the Karhula foundry resulted in a reduction of more than 93% in waste generated at this facility. It also contributed significantly to the overall reduction in Sulzer’s water use (31.5% less m³ per 1’000 working hours) and total waste production (26.1% fewer tons per 1’000 working hours).

Key figures

Find further sustainability data at www.sulzer.com/sustainability.