As a leading global supplier of adhesives, sealants and functional coatings, Henkel is driving sustainability forward as part of its Sustainability Ambition 2030.

Henkel is driving sustainability transparency in its product portfolio. Image source: Wanan - StockAdobe

The business unit not only wants to set a good example with innovative technologies, but also ensure complete transparency about the sustainability impact of its products during the cradle-to-gate and utilisation phase. This end-to-end transparency, which is based on reliable data and a consistent measurement methodology in accordance with leading international standards, is a key criterion for improving the footprint of Henkel and its customers.

To provide its more than 100,000 customers in over 800 industry segments with a comprehensive sustainability and performance profile of its products, Adhesive Technologies has now developed and launched a digital solution in collaboration with Henkel’s digital department and Capgemini. This new measurement platform – the ‘Henkel Environmental Assessment Reporting Tool’ (HEART) – enables the automatic calculation of the carbon footprint of around 58,000 products. The tool maps the entire cradle-to-gate emissions, including emissions from raw materials, production, packaging and logistics. This calculation method has been thoroughly tested and certified by TüV Rheinland (ID no. 0000086028: Henkel AG & Co. KGaA – Certipedia).

End products better and their emissions lower

“Our certified calculation methodology combines high-quality data with a novel digital measurement platform and enables us to quickly generate comprehensive PCF reports for a significant and growing proportion of our products,” explains Ulla Hüppe, Vice President Sustainability at Henkel. “Our customers now have full transparency on the individual sustainability impacts of the majority of our portfolio. This enables them to better assess the impact of their end products and reduce their emissions accordingly. The new HEART tool is not only another important milestone on the way to our promise to deliver 100 per cent end-to-end transparency for all our products by 2030. It also helps us to analyse and manage our portfolio on the basis of data-driven results and to continuously increase the proportion of low-emission products in the future.”