Energy Consumption and Emissions into Air

We strive to minimise our carbon footprint and have set a new company goal of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 20% (relative to sales volume, excluding emissions from patient use of inhaler products) by 2020, using 2010 as our base year.

For many years, projects to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions have been locally implemented at our sites with the objective of improving our performance. We consider these measures a prerequisite to having a competitive advantage and being a sustainable company.

Boehringer Ingelheim's "Sustainable Use of Energy" team coordinates our energy and emission-reducing activities at an international level and fosters knowledge transfer between our sites. This team has been integrated in our new BE GREEN project, which was started in 2011 with the objective of coordinating and optimising all our environmental activities.

In particular, the "Sustainable Use of Energy" team is installing a knowledge exchange platform for energy-saving projects. This platform contains already projects from the past. Especially the installation of our cogeneration units and the installation of heat recovery systems in nearly all of our main buildings led to an annual reduction of about  80,000 tons of CO₂ emissions.

Data

Energy consumption is reported monthly on a worldwide basis by all production and R&D sites. Our main primary energy source is natural gas, but we also employ renewable energy sources. Secondary energy sources are primarily electricity as well as heat and steam.

Boehringer Ingelheim reports on energy consumption for all production and research sites in million gigajoules (GJs). An energy consumption index (in %, relative to sales volume, base year 2010) was introduced for assessment and performance classification as well as to show how consumption has developed relative to sales volume.

In 2011, Boehringer Ingelheim developed a revised concept for calculating its corporate carbon footprint using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, a multi-stakeholder initiative coordinated by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the World Resource Institute. Our greenhouse gas emissions are calculated as carbon dioxide equivalents, separately for scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Calculations are based on emission factors obtained via recognised databases, such as from IPCC and DEFRA greenhouse gas emission index (in %, relative to sales volume, base year 2010) was introduced showing how consumption has developed relative to sales volume. Our reduction goal of 20% (by 2020, basis year 2010) refers to this index.

Moreover, other emissions, such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including ozone-depleting substances, are systematically collected.

Details on metrics are provided in the chapter Performance Indicators.

Energy Consumption and Emissions in 2015

In 2015, Boehringer Ingelheim consumed 5.55 million GJ of energy. This represents an decrease of 4% compared to previous year, mainly caused by the sale of an American site. A positive trend is visible, given that the energy consumption index of 73% indicates that our energy use in relation to sales has declined (2014: 85%). Besides the sale of a site this is mainly due to our continuous process improvements, modernisation of equipment and behavioural changes of our employees.

A positive development is also recorded in the usage of renewable energy sources: about 1/6th of our total energy requirement was covered by renewable energy sources.

Our greenhouse gas emissions were measured according to the Greenhouse Gas protocol, a globally recognised standard to calculate the company carbon footprint. Our direct greenhouse gas emissions produced by sources owned or directly controlled (scope 1) decreased to 261,000 tons. The emissions generated indirectly for energy supply, i.e. purchased electricity and steam/heat (scope 2) were at 269,000 tons in 2015.

Measures and Activities in 2015

In 2015, we continued with various measures and activities at our sites worldwide to reduce energy use and emissions into the air. Examples listed below are just a small part of all activities conducted by Boehringer Ingelheim. 

By installing newest heat recovery technologies and an energy efficient and sustainable building design this building fulfills our internal target for office buildings (68 kWh / m² a).

In our Austrian site in Vienna several saving projects led to an annual energy saving of some 1,000,000 kWh. And an associated reduction of around 200 tons of CO₂ emissions. This success was honoured with an award of the city of Vienna.