Climate protection

The KION Group intends to minimise its role in global warming, so it has committed itself in its ‘Climate protection’ action field to set a specific target by 2018 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and establish the programme required to achieve that. The KION Group is currently also working on analysing its overall corporate carbon footprint (Scope 1 to 3).

The introduction of the HSE network of experts and a KION Climate Championship are additional measures to achieve further progress through increased internal communication and the raising of employee awareness.

All measures follow this priority ranking: it will constantly strive to achieve a reduction in its CO₂ emissions. If it cannot go any further, it will endeavour to substitute fuels with lower-emission fuels. And once this measure does not deliver further reductions either, it will then counter the impact of its CO₂ emissions through offsetting measures.

Energy use

Reducing the amount of energy it uses is the KION Group’s key lever for minimising its impact on climate change – and also one of the key environmental cost factors.

In 2016 the KION Group* used 2,013 terajoules of energy (> Table 12), whereby direct energy consumption accounted for 1,350 terajoules, and 688 terajoules was accounted for by transportation. In the same year, Group-wide it used 663 terajoules of energy indirectly, in other words primarily through purchased electricity.

To further reduce its energy consumption it rolled out a range of measures across the Group in 2016. 36 reporting entities follow specific energy reduction targets, comprising twelve plants and 24 sales and service entities. Besides the use of energy saving lighting and sensors, it is also promoting the use of a photovoltaic system at one of its production plants. 17 entities currently use renewable forms of energy, and 19 units have implemented green IT measures to reduce their energy consumption.

42 reporting entities are working on specific measures to improve their transportation activities, including by optimising route planning and using GPS to avoid multiple trips.

The KION Group intends to establish Group-wide minimum energy standards for all units. To achieve this aim it intends to expand the scope of its HSE minimum standard and also supplement its HSE manual with corresponding organisational principles, documents and forms. With this in mind, the KION Group intends to roll out an ISO 50001-compliant energy management system at its 25 reporting entities with the greatest energy use. Last but not least, it will attach greater importance to climate protection aspects – which also means reducing its energy consumption – within the framework of its KION HSE audit process.

Emissions

The KION Group generates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions almost exclusively from its use of energy (> Table 13). It has presented these emissions in accordance with the internationally recognised rules of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Its consumption data is converted using emissions factors taken from the DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK, as at 2012) database. Around 47 percent of the KION Group’s* GHG emissions are direct, with 53 percent accounted for by indirect emissions. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released particularly at its paint shops.

Clear targets and comprehensive measures are intended to help further reduce the KION Group’s emissions. 15 of its reporting entities have set specific GHG emissions reduction targets, 24 aim to make specific process optimisations to reduce energy and GHG emissions, and 18 already use technologies to reduce GHG emissions. The Company’s* comprehensive awareness-raising programmes on energy consumption and emissions have already reached around 30 percent of employees, particularly those at its production plants.