SCHOTT climate neutrality strategy successfully delivers first results

SCHOTT climate neutrality strategy successfully delivers first results

• Successfully achieved 100% green electricity

• Successfully reduced carbon emissions by 60% 

• Released technology roadmap focusing on using electricity and hydrogen to melt glass

In 2020, the specialty glass manufacturer SCHOTT announced the ambitious goal of becoming climate neutral at its global production sites by 2030. Today, the company has successfully achieved a major milestone in its climate neutrality project. Despite the challenges of external factors such as the epidemic and the global economy, SCHOTT has achieved many important goals on its path to climate neutrality. In addition to achieving 100% green electricity and successfully reducing carbon emissions by 60%, SCHOTT has also launched a series of important projects to develop more environmentally friendly glass melting technologies. At the same time, SCHOTT Group released a global development blueprint, laying a solid foundation for rigorous and complex technological changes.

As a manufacturer of specialty glass, SCHOTT operates in an energy-intensive industry. SCHOTT's energy requirements and carbon emissions come primarily from the glass melting process. Special glass can be used to make kitchen Celan® stove panels, medicinal glass tubes, smartphone covers, etc., and its melting temperature is as high as 1700°C.

Dr. Jens Schulte, member of the Management Board of SCHOTT AG and head of the Zero Carbon Initiative, said: “Across the world, we are facing too many uncertainties. However, we will not stop moving forward and contribute to combating climate change. We believe that this is one of the most important challenges of the moment. SCHOTT has successfully achieved important milestones. In the next few years, we will set further aggressive medium-term goals to actively reduce our carbon emissions. Working towards ultimate climate neutrality.”

Successfully achieved 100% green electricity

Before the start of the zero-carbon plan, SCHOTT’s annual global carbon emissions totaled approximately 1 million tons. By 2022, while new production facilities are put into operation, SCHOTT will still reduce carbon emissions by more than 60% and achieve 100% green electricity. At present, the company's factories in China have fully achieved 100% sustainable energy supply, and all their electricity in China comes from Chinese wind power stations. After natural gas, electricity has always been SCHOTT's largest use of energy. SCHOTT further drives the energy transition by embracing renewable electricity through the purchase of Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) and focusing on the use of high-quality, independently certified green electricity certificates.

Since 2022, the company has also made more concrete efforts towards the energy transition through power purchase agreements (PPAs). A PPA is a direct power purchase agreement with an operator of a renewable energy plant such as a wind farm. SCHOTT has signed three long-term agreements with well-known German energy suppliers and is also seeking additional opportunities. It is expected that by 2023, SCHOTT's electricity consumption in Germany will be reduced to only 17% of the entire group.

Technological change becomes the biggest challenge

The successful transition to green power marks an important step in SCHOTT’s aggressive innovation and technological transformation. Companies want to reduce the use of fossil energy such as natural gas as much as possible, so technological change becomes very important and very challenging. This is a long-term task with huge R&D investment and will be completed after 2030. This is because developing new technologies requires breakthrough innovations in glass production processes. In addition, to achieve a successful technological change, green energy must also be supplied on an industrial scale, which requires corresponding infrastructure investments by energy suppliers and grid operators.

Dr. Jens Schulte said: “We are currently investing tens of millions of euros to achieve climate neutrality. We are using this funding to obtain high-quality green electricity and carry out technical research on decarbonized production. In order to put these technologies in the factory It is widely used and more financial support is expected to be invested in the coming years.”

More climate-friendly glass melting research project

In terms of technology development, SCHOTT's experts are focusing on the energy-intensive glass melting technology. The company is advancing two important and transformative initiatives to replace natural gas as a fuel in future production processes: the electrification of heating of furnaces and the use of hydrogen energy.

SCHOTT has launched several pioneering research projects in the glass industry in these two areas, and has received partial grant support from the German government and the European Union. For the hydrogen plan, SCHOTT will start large-scale production testing at its factory in Mainz, Germany, at the end of autumn 2022.

Dr. Matthias Müller, head of R&D at SCHOTT, said: “Our first research results are very encouraging and SCHOTT is committed to promoting activities in this field. We believe that SCHOTT’s R&D will provide important information for the development of the entire glass industry. The driving force.”

Technology roadmap points the way forward for SCHOTT

Following research and development of sustainable technologies, SCHOTT is planning their widespread application. SCHOTT is planning to gradually roll out its research results using its technology blueprints, which also show how these research results can be implemented in long-term production, covering all aspects of the Group, involving the entire company, individual business units and even production sites around the world. The blueprint envisages the establishment of pilot plants for decarbonized production starting as early as 2025.

After the trial phase is over, there will still be many other influencing factors on the technological reform of the entire group. For example, since the furnace has a defined service life and cannot be replaced at any time, it needs to be properly planned during the investment cycle. Additionally, external factors are beyond SCHOTT’s control, such as developing hydrogen infrastructure or expanding renewable energy sources to obtain sufficient green electricity.

Dr. Jens Schulte added: “Our technological transformation is not a sprint, but a marathon. At present, SCHOTT is stepping up innovation and investing heavily to ensure that complex production processes are ready as soon as possible to industrialize sustainable energy sources. In addition to our own efforts, companies also need the support of policymakers. Solving the difficulties faced by society as a whole in the energy transition requires a concerted effort.”

SCHOTT strategy: Four actions to achieve climate neutrality

SCHOTT's climate neutrality action plan consists of four areas, which in addition to technological changes include increasing energy efficiency, switching to 100% green electricity and compensating for technically unavoidable emissions.

As a specialty glass manufacturing company, SCHOTT has been working hard to reduce emissions, but it is impossible to absolutely eliminate all emissions in the manufacturing process. In the future, the company will also offset carbon emissions by participating in climate protection projects and pass certificates related to international standards with strict standards.

In order to calculate carbon emissions more accurately, SCHOTT assessed the company's greenhouse climate emissions, including from its own production facilities and purchased energy, business travel and employee travel. In the future, it will also consider areas such as the supply chain. To determine comparability of climate impacts, SCHOTT also reports its greenhouse gas emissions in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).

Photo courtesy: Schott

Photo courtesy: Schott

Drive innovation – take responsibility – co-create

The three qualities of the SCHOTT Group, a manufacturer of high-tech specialty glass materials, are innovation, responsibility and co-creation. The founder Otto Schott is the inventor of special glass and a pioneer in the entire glass industry. For more than 130 years, SCHOTT’s #glasslovers have been adhering to a pioneering spirit and unlimited passion, and have continued to explore new markets and new fields. The company has offices in 33 countries and regions and is a high-tech partner in cutting-edge fields such as medical care, home appliances, consumer electronics, semiconductors, data communications, optics, industry, energy, automobiles, astronomy and aerospace. In fiscal year 2021, the company's 17,300 employees generated total sales of 2.5 billion euros. The SCHOTT Group is part of the Carl Zeiss Foundation, one of the oldest German foundations, and uses dividends from the SCHOTT Group to promote science and technology. As a foundation company, SCHOTT has a special responsibility towards its employees, society and the environment. The company is committed to reducing carbon emissions and becoming climate neutral by 2030.