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Increased efficiency of energy use and more transparency

Sulzer is an environmentally responsible global industrial company. We focus on designing products with market-leading efficiency levels, we utilize energy more efficiently, reduce the share of hazardous waste and improve water management. Compared with last year, we have increased the scope of our environmental reporting in order to add more value and increase 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:

  • The reporting period for environmental data was October 1, 2018, to September 30, 2019.
  • The reporting cycle for HR data and the health and safety performance was January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2019.

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.

Energy consumption
Hazardous waste

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

 

 

2019

2018

Change in +/–%

Energy

GJ

902’751

860’753

4.9

Energy consumption per working hours (whr)

GJ per 1’000 whr

36.9

38.3

–1.4

Share of electricity

%

56.6

58.1

 

Share of gases

%

25.3

27.3

 

Share of fuels

%

13.8

10.4

 

Share of fuel oils

%

1.3

1.1

 

Share of district heating

%

3.0

3.2

 

Share of other sources

%

<1

<1

 

Greenhouse gas emissions

tons CO 2 eq.

118’805

113’764

4.4

GHG emissions per working hours

tons CO 2 eq. per 1’000 whr

4.8

5.1

–4.0

GHG scope 1 1)

tons CO 2 eq.

21’245

18’979

12.0

GHG scope 2 2)

tons CO 2 eq.

56’214

55’998

0.4

GHG scope 3 3)

tons CO 2 eq.

41’346

38’787

7.0

Waste

tons

20’998

18’142

15.7

Waste per working hours

tons per 1’000 whr

0.9

0.8

11.1

By treatment:

 

 

 

 

Recycling

%

44.9

45.3

 

Waste to landfill / incineration / other treatment

%

55.1

54.7

 

By hazardousness:

 

 

 

 

Non-hazardous waste

%

86.1

82.6

 

Hazardous waste

%

13.9

17.4

 

Water

m 3

1’029’302

930’530

10.6

Water consumption per working hours

m 3 per 1’000 whr

42.0

41.4

1.6

1) Direct emissions from Sulzer stemming from primary energy sources such as natural gas and fuels used on-site.

2) Indirect emissions from secondary (converted) energy sources such as electricity and district heating.

3) Indirect emissions from the production and transport of fuels and gases not included in scopes 1 or 2.

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