FUCHS’ sustainability intention is continuous improvement and sustainable corporate control, i.e. a steering, standardization and optimisation of existing processes in the three dimensions of sustainability as most realistic approach and then whenever/ wherever possible to add sustainable components. “We do not want to ‘green wash’ ourselves on the one side, while the equal consideration of all three sustainability aspects along the value chain is certainly an honourable target, but not always realistically achievable.”
FUCHS’ ambition and the same time challenge is to create ‘honey (s)pots’ of sustainability, such as eco-efficiency for example, which means consuming less energy while blending the same volume of lubricants and/or an optimised energy mix, as every kilowatt hour of electricity, that can be replaced by gas, reduces costs and at the same time reduces the company’s corporate carbon footprint. This touches and improves the economic and ecological dimension of FUCHS’ sustainability.
FUCHS defines its ecological responsibility along the process chain of raw materials and finished lubricants. “We want to buy raw materials from reliable suppliers and sources, who comply with our corporate ethical standards. Therefore starting from 2017, our centrally managed suppliers will also be rated according to sustainability criteria – e.g. carbon footprint of raw materials supplied to FUCHS – as part of our annual supplier performance evaluation. “On the finished lubricant side the company calculates the amount of energy that it generates at its production facilities, the amount of water it consumes, the amount of waste it generates and the amount of carbon dioxide generated by the aforementioned indicators and other parameters, such as the use of company vehicles. Those criteria are consistent with standards developed to measure sustainability of businesses in other industries, such as chemicals and energy. Sustainability proponents say the development of such standards is a key prerequisite to any true progress toward the cause. “This is an important step because we’re moving from the qualitative to the quantitative assessment of sustainability,” Apu said. “It’s the only way to know if you are truly having an impact. What you cannot measure you cannot manage, and what you cannot manage you cannot modify in an optimal way. Also more and more customers are requesting data on e.g. carbon footprint, etc. from us and at the end of the day, the lubricants we sell need to be sustainable to them, i.e. the products need to reduce their energy, their waste and their carbon footprint.”
“The economic dimension was and will continue to be the most important one for every business company,” says Apu Gosalia. “It is not unethical to make profits, but we need to measure and try to optimize the ecological and social impact, while we continue to make these profits. In the past business executives had ‘4Ps’ in their minds and mostly they stood for PROFIT, PROFIT, PROFIT and PROFIT. Today they should still have ‘4Ps’ in their minds, but they should stand for PROFIT, PERFORMANCE, PLANET and PEOPLE.”
FUCHS has been evaluating its own sustainability since 2011 and in November 2016 was named Germany’s most sustainable Continued on page 18
LUBE MAGAZINE NO.138 APRIL 2017 17
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
