Increased efficiency of energy use and more transparency

Sulzer products can be impressive in the sheer size and scale of the function they are delivering. Sulzer’s design teams consistently work to develop more energy-efficient products and solutions.

Serving customers and the environment

We believe strongly in doing our part to protect the environment while simultaneously helping customers to find the most efficient solutions for their needs – saving them time, space and money. It is for this reason we put a strong emphasis on making our products more efficient. Some of the company’s achievements in this area in 2019 were:

Businesses with diverse footprints

Sulzer reports on its energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, waste production and water consumption as they are material for our operations. Our goal is to continuously improve performance measured against working hours (whr) compared with the previous year. Our products and services differ widely from one another; our 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, the business units and local sites evaluate their footprints and set their agendas individually to reduce their environmental impact.

Comprehensive reporting system

Sulzer has a comprehensive reporting system in place to collect financial and non-financial data at site level. The number of total working hours are used as a reference. The total number of working hours increased in 2019, mainly due to the impact of newly acquired businesses. In the reporting year, 78.8% of total working hours reported on environmental data (2018: 78.5%). The number is slightly higher than in the previous year because acquired businesses have been integrated into the environmental data collection process. The coverage of HR and occupational health and safety data is 100% (of total working hours). Sulzer collects non-financial data according to two different reporting cycles and confirms the accuracy of the figures through regular internal audits:

More efficient usage of energy

The rate of energy consumption per 1’000 working hours decreased by 1.4% in 2019, since efforts to use energy more efficiently paid off. The decrease would have been bigger but was somewhat offset by several large projects in the Pumps Equipment division. Due to Sulzer’s growth in 2019, the overall environmental impact increased, although slower than the company’s output (energy usage up 4.9% versus total revenue growth of 8.2%).

In 2019, GHG emissions relative to 1’000 working hours decreased by 4.0%, whereas the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in absolute terms increased by 4.4%. Contributing factors included an increase in CO₂ emissions from petrol and diesel used and a broader scope of reporting sites.

Decreased share of hazardous waste and better water management

The total waste grew by 15.7%. This increase is primarily linked to newly acquired sites that were integrated into Sulzer’s reporting system. In addition, certain sites implemented LEAN processes even more thoroughly, which involved cleaning up manufacturing facilities and resulted in additional waste. At the same time, we were able to decrease the share of hazardous waste requiring special treatment by 3.5 percentage points.

Sulzer’s use of water grew by 10.6%. The majority of the increase stems from customer demands in the Applicator Systems (APS) division for specific products that consume more water in the production process, and from adding new sites to the reporting system. Building on the 20% reduction in water use in 2018, the divisions further improved water management in their processes and facilities in 2019. This led to an only slight increase in the overall water consumption per 1’000 working hours, also due to the APS product mix.

Key figures

Please find further sustainability data at www.sulzer.com/sustainability.