Our path towards climate neutrality

Sustainability at FUCHS goes far beyond our own operations and conduct. We continuously assess and analyze emissions – not only from our own activities but also across our entire upstream and downstream value chain. That’s why our Net zero strategy extends beyond our operational emissions from our own production sites. We take a holistic approach, considering the entire lifecycle and value chain of our products to drive lasting impact. This is why we participate in research projects on the use of sustainable raw materials. Together with our suppliers, we develop standards and measures for quantifying and certifying sustainability along the entire value chain. Above all though, our products reduce friction and increase energy efficiency for our customers – this has both a financial and ecological impact.

FUCHS voluntarily compensates for its annual Gate-to-gate emissions as long as these could not be reduced to near zero. To do this, all greenhouse gas emissions of FUCHS that are directly attributable to our business activities (“gate-to-gate”) have been measured retroactively since 2019 and offset through investments in climate protection projects. FUCHS restricts its choice of projects for this purpose to high-quality certifications such as UN Gold Standard or VERRA. In any case, compensation measures are only the last step undertaken once avoidance and reduction measures have met their limits. FUCHS is therefore continuously expanding the proportion of renewable energies that make up its power supply, with the aim to transition to 100% Green Electricity by end of 2025. 

The main objective for our Science-based Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Targets is to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Therefore, the target pathways have been aligned with the framework set by SBTi (Science-based Targets Initiative). 

FUCHS has developed own science-based targets for emission reduction (cradle-to-grave) to Net zero until 2040 for operational emissions (Scope 1 & 2) and until 2050 for our value chain emissions (Scope 3). To achieve this, we set two reduction targets as required by SBTI-framework each: 

Our strongest driver to reduce scope 1&2 emissions is to procure all energy required globally from renewable sources or to self-generate the required electricity on-site. However, in the base year 2021 Scope 1 and 2-emissions accounted only for roughly 4% of our total emissions as FUCHS is not considered to be an energy intensive operation. The majority of Scope 3 emissions stems from category 3.1 “Purchased Goods and Services”. Therefore, in order to achieve the Scope 3 reduction targets the following measures have been defined (excerpt):

We know that conducting carbon-neutral operations within our own company alone is not enough. Our goal therefore is to sell carbon-neutral products long-term – and we get our suppliers on board to do this by purchasing raw materials. After all, these are responsible for 90 percent of the carbon footprint of a finished lubricant product. Within the scope of numerous research projects, we already support some of our suppliers in the search for corresponding options. And we've brought them all to the table: suppliers, competitors, and customers, in our European industry association UEIL. The objective here is to achieve measurable key performance indicators and criteria for sustainability.

The use of biogenic raw materials from Europe as renewable, environmentally friendly alternatives to fossil raw materials is at the center of many of the research initiatives in which FUCHS is involved. Their main benefit is that they do not increase the carbon balance and their use often means a new source of income for domestic agriculture.

In 2023, we defined our Global Procurement Strategy that identifies the key areas of improvement to be developed and achieved to fulfill our set emission reduction targets. In the mid to long term, we strive to significantly increase the usage of circular products in raw materials and packaging as well as biogenic based raw materials. In close co-operation with our suppliers, we are starting to develop a path forward with them to continuously reduce carbon emission until 2050. This is a multi-step process and will potentially imply the use of new raw materials that require many R&D activities to deliver the technology and performance requested by our customers. 

Moreover, since 2023, FUCHS continuously requests information from its raw material suppliers on the Product Carbon Footprint for the raw materials purchased. This will help to increase transparency throughout our value chain and to prioritize the projects to be implemented to reduce FUCHS’ Corporate and Product Carbon Footprint. Suppliers were also informed that this criterion will be increasingly taken into consideration to reward new business and contract at FUCHS.