WE INVEST IN INGREDIENTS BASED ON RENEWABLE INSTEAD OF FOSSIL RAW MATERIALS
Climate change is one of the major global challenges of our time. We at Henkel are committed to the 1.5-degree Celsius target set in the Paris Climate Agreement. We integrate tackling climate change and its impacts into our sustainability strategy and across our entire value chain and are committed to climate protection. Therefore, Henkel has defined a net-zero roadmap in 2024, substantially extending its targets for emissions reduction along the value chain.
One part of our journey is our cooperation with our suppliers of ingredients, e.g. BASF, Shell, and Moeve. Together, we can decrease the amount of fossil sources used for the production of ingredients and reduce their CO2 footprint.
Where do our ingredients come from?
We purchase a large amount of our ingredients for our hair and body care as well as laundry and home care products from our suppliers. Ingredients are, for example, surfactants that we use as cleaning agents in our shampoos, shower gels, laundry detergents and household cleaners. Those ingredients can be based on fossil and/or renewable raw materials.
Fossil raw materials come from sources that are limited and are for example petroleum, crude oil or natural gas. Fossil sources like oil and gas result from a transformation of plant-based materials over thousands or millions of years in the earth. Renewable raw materials can come from different sources including biomass from organic wastes, forestry or agriculture.
Why does the CO2 footprint of fossil-based ingredients differ from renewable-based ingredients?
Fossil raw materials collected by extracting oil or gas from under the earth’s surface, where it has remained undisturbed for thousands or millions of years. Extraction brings captured CO2 to the planet’s surface, thereby at the end of the life cycle increasing the overall amount of CO2 in our atmosphere.
Renewable (biomass) raw materials come from plants growing today on the surface of our planet. Plants capture CO2 from the air during their lifetime and use the carbon (along with water) as source. Plants then release oxygen back into the air. This process is called photosynthesis. The CO2 that a plant captures, the carbon uptake, is named biogenic carbon. At the end of the life cycle CO2 is then released again through combustion or degradation. This is called the closed carbon cycle.
Within the full life cycle the usage of renewable raw materials shows a lower total CO2 emission of the products than the usage of fossil raw materials.
How can we decrease the amount of fossil sources for our ingredients?
We decided to invest in cooperations with BASF, Shell and Moeve to increase the amount of renewable raw materials for the manufacture of ingredients and thus contribute to CO2 footprint reduction. Compared to conventional ingredients, the renewable-based ingredients come with a lower CO2 footprint, amounting currently to more than 80,000 tons CO2 in annual savings globally*. That’s how much an airplane would emit if it flew around the world more than 30 times.
The current solution that is used to determine the amount of fossil and renewable sources in the production process is called “mass balance approach”.
(*based on same sales figures as in previous year)
The biomass balance approach: an innovative path towards replacing fossil sources
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What is the biomass balance approach and how can it help to replace fossil sources?
In the production process of our suppliers, renewable and fossil raw materials are combined to manufacture ingredients, such as surfactants (so called “mass balance approach”). Afterwards, we use these ingredients to produce hair and body care as well as laundry & home care products. This mass balance process and attribution is verified by independent, third-party certification organizations such as REDcert² and SCS global services.
To better understand the mass balance approach, let us compare it to the sourcing of renewable electricity. When paying for renewable electricity, it is not guaranteed that the electricity entering the home comes directly from renewable sources. But one can be sure that the equal amount of energy you buy is produced somewhere by green technologies.
Same applies for our cooperations with our suppliers: We cannot guarantee that the ingredients for our products which our suppliers deliver are directly made from renewable raw materials. But due to the third-party certification it is assured that the equal amount of renewable raw materials is actually sourced and used by our suppliers for the production of ingredients. Therefore, the approach is called “mass balance”.
How can you be part of our journey?
We aim to further increase the use of renewable raw materials, thereby reducing the use of fossil raw materials. This is a strong contribution to more sustainable sourcing and production processes.
By purchasing one of our hair and body care as well as laundry or home care products such as Schauma, Fa, Persil, Perwoll, Somat, all, Bref and WC Frisch, you are supporting the use of more renewable raw materials via mass balance approach.
And this is only the beginning of our journey. Be part of it!