A Future Without Fossil Fuels Is Within Reach

as a family-run business with a history stretching back more than 215 years, we think in terms of generations. That is a crucial advantage that makes us more independent than other market players. In this same vein, our sustainability strategy is not focused on short-term objectives for the next quarter, but on the coming years and decades. We believe this is essential if we are to preserve the environmental, social, and economic foundations of the company for future generations.

The United Nations has set out sustainable development targets in its 2030 Agenda. All members of the UN – 193 countries worldwide – have committed to implementing these targets, known as SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). Although the SDGs are primarily intended for nation states, as a family business we are convinced that we also bear responsibility for helping to achieve them through our own business activities. With the publication of our 2030 Sustainability Strategy last year, we set out the company’s roadmap to sustainable growth. Since then our sustainability strategy has moved on from the conceptual stage and we are already implementing numerous projects that will allow us to achieve the ambitious goals we have set ourselves.

I was especially delighted to receive a visit from Thekla Walker, Minister for the Environment, Climate, and Energy of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg at the beginning of this year. She wanted to get an idea of how the construction work for our major project in Oberkirch was progressing. Here, we are investing more than 70 million euros in decarbonizing our coal-fired power station – a mammoth project that will only begin to reap rewards in many years’ time, but a very important step nonetheless. Namely, it will allow us to reduce our direct emissions from fossil fuels by 150,000 metric tons per year in the future. Ms Walker summed it up perfectly: While other companies are still deliberating on their next steps, the Koehler Group is already at the implementation stage. Our ambitious goals and visionary projects that we already set in motion some years ago make us pioneers in our industry.

As part of our climate strategy, we have committed to reducing direct greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels under Scope 1 by 80% by 2030, a goal that can only be achieved by using energy that doesn’t come from fossil fuel sources. In 2023, around 60% of the Koehler Group’s heating needs and around 70% of its electricity requirements for paper production were already met using renewable energy sources. Clearly shows that the ambitious objectives we set ourselves are within reach.

In February 2024, we were able to commission our first ever wind farm in Germany. Planning work for the wind farm began as far back as 2012. It was given final approval after 10 years, and construction work began that same year. The Wetzlar-Blasbach wind farm consists of two cutting-edge Vestas V150 turbines with a total output of 8.4 megawatts. This means the wind farm is expected to produce 23,000 megawatt hours of electricity, roughly equivalent to the annual power consumption of 9,000 average 2-person households in Germany. The commissioning of the wind farm is a major step for us as a company.

Now that we are within touching distance of fully decarbonizing our power plants, all that remains is the small amount of natural gas that we are currently dependent on for our production processes. By law we must no longer use any fossil fuels by 2045, which also includes natural gas.
We are proud to say that we already cover a significant proportion of our steam and electricity needs from renewable sources. Today, many industrial companies are almost wholly reliant on natural gas and are hoping to use hydrogen as an alternative in the future. We are facing this challenge head-on and are already carrying out feasibility studies to see whether we might be able to use green hydrogen for drying coating pigments in the future.

This edition of our Sustainability Report gives you a deeper insight into our 2030 Sustainability Strategy. We also report on the detailed objectives we have set ourselves in the various areas of action. I hope you enjoy reading the report, which will be published annually in the summer from now on.