Climate change is a major challenge that our planet is facing, which is caused by the steady accumulation of man-made greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO₂), in the Earth's atmosphere. Climate protection and the economical use of energy, resources and materials are therefore important tasks of our time, and have been firmly anchored in both our corporate and sustainability strategies. Our focus is on reducing CO₂ emissions – for our customers and for ourselves.
When tracking emissions, we follow the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol for short), which is considered the most internationally recognized standard for tracking and accounting for greenhouse gas emissions. It categorizes emissions into Scope 1 emissions (direct emissions), Scope 2 emissions (indirect emissions from final energy purchases such as electricity and district heating), and Scope 3 emissions (other indirect emissions along the value chain).
Over the next few years, Festo will be massively reducing its carbon footprint. We have already made enormous progress in 2023 with regard to scopes 1, 2 and 3.8: Since 2024 – two years earlier than planned – the entire Festo Group has been CO2-compensated in Scope 1. Furthermore, we plan to reduce Scope 1 emissions by around 30 percent by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2040. In Scope 2 and 3.8, the Festo Group has already been carbon-neutral since 2024.
We are also continuing to invest in energy efficiency measures and the further expansion of photovoltaics (PV). PV systems were added at 20 further locations in 2023. The total PV output at Festo has thus increased by over 60 per cent and now amounts to 13.8 megawatts peak.
Festo calculates its Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF) across all three scopes of the GHG Protocol. Four categories – 3.10, 3.13, 3.14 and 3.15 – were identified as irrelevant for the carbon footprint of Festo. These categories were therefore not taken into account.
The results can be found in the table Greenhouse gas emissions 2024 (in t CO2eq). The calculation shows a clear result: 99 percent of emissions are caused within categories 3.1, 3.4 and 3.11. A detailed list can be found in our Sustainability Report.
Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions for 2023 are shown in the following two charts. The figures below show the total energy requirement related to sales and the sales-related emissions of Scope 1 and 2.