Global Challenges and Opportunities

Henkel is committed to responsible management of raw materials, and especially the conservation of natural resources and biodiversity. We use ingredients based on renewable raw materials to optimize the overall characteristics of our products, wherever this is compatible with environmental, economic and social considerations. As part of this responsibility, we strive to ensure that all of the materials related to palm oil and palm kernel oil that we buy and use in our products are produced through sustainable practices.

Henkel operates 179 production sites worldwide. We work continuously at all of these sites to reduce our environmental footprint while maintaining high quality and safety standards. We have set concrete targets for our production sites to maximize our impact and help steer progress toward our long-term goal to become three times more efficient by 2030.

Reducing our emissions is an important goal within our transport and logistics concept. Optimizing our logistics footprint starts with the product development stage. We work on product and packaging optimization in terms of weight and volume, provided this is possible without compromising their performance, convenience and stability. Next to product and packaging optimization, improving our logistics structures helps us to reduce transport emissions. 

We put our customers and consumers at the center of what we do. As a market leader. Our technologies are used in a uniquely diverse range of industrial and consumer applications. Our expert teams work together with our customers to develop tailor-made solutions that help them overcome the specific challenges they face in their market. Our collaboration with retailers also plays an important role. Retail groups are important partners for Henkel on the road to more sustainable consumption. They offer excellent platforms for informing consumers about more sustainable products and encouraging them to use these products in an environmentally responsible way.

Sustainability continues to gather increasing importance for our stakeholders. Our customers and consumers, as they place more and more focus on understanding the impact of our processes and products along the value chain. Our products are used daily in millions of households. As much as 90 percent of the environmental footprint of our products is generated during their use. Therefore we seek to encourage responsible product use through targeted communication.

Packaging waste, and especially plastics waste and pollution have captured the attention of the public, governments, and businesses around the world. The search for solutions has started, and there is growing recognition that addressing the symptoms through clean-ups is not enough. A systemic shift tackling the root causes is required: a transition towards a circular economy. Resource consumption can be reduced if materials are kept within the cycles of the economy for as long as possible. Our mission is to include materials from sustainable sources and use a smart design to close the loop.