Lanxess, Wacker Chemie Support Foundation 2°

Lanxess AG and Wacker Chemie AG have become supporting businesses of Foundation 2°. As the first representatives of the chemical industry to join Foundation 2°, the companies send a clear signal that they are committed to corporate climate protection.

“We now have the chemical industry on board, too. I am delighted to welcome two dedicated chemical companies, Wacker and Lanxess, as new members of our corporate climate protection alliance,” said Sabine Nallinger, Managing Director of Foundation 2°.

“The chemical industry is a solution industry forging ahead toward carbon neutrality. Without chemistry, there would be no LEDs, no electric cars, solar modules, or wind turbines. And the upcoming connectivity of the energy transition and digitization in future also depends on chemistry-based innovations,” noted Nallinger.

“Climate protection is a business case for Lanxess. It underscores our plan to be carbon neutral by 2040. However, in order to maintain the entrepreneurial advantages of sustainable management, the political framework conditions must be right. We are firmly convinced that our many years of experience in reducing greenhouse gases will be beneficial to Foundation 2°. Germany has the potential to go ahead with the transition into a carbon neutral future and we want to help,” said Matthias Zachert, Chairman of the Management Board & CEO of Lanxess.

To achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, Lanxess has implemented projects to reduce its emissions around the world. The most recent of these was eliminating laughing gas emissions at a site in Antwerp. The company's climate footprint has also become one of its key performance indicators for investments in plants, acquisitions, or compensation of top management.

“There are two decisive levers for chemistry’s path to carbon neutrality: Transitioning from today’s fossil-based industrial production to processes powered by green energy, and taking a value-adding, emission-reducing approach to the ‘waste product’ CO2,” said Christian Hartel, President & CEO of Wacker.

“We are facing this challenge head on and have already electrified over 60 percent of our production processes. In the second step, Wacker needs large amounts of renewable electricity at internationally competitive prices. On the one hand, we are reducing the CO2 footprint in production and, on the other, making projects economically feasible with innovative, low-greenhouse-gas hydrogen projects such as RHYME Bavaria,” added Hartel. “What’s needed now is swift cooperation from politicians, business and society. Foundation 2° will be an important bridge-builder in this regard.”

With RHYME Bavaria, Wacker is pursuing its goal of making a vital contribution toward markedly reducing fossil raw materials in chemical processes and products by producing green hydrogen for industrial use.

The partners all agree: A forward-looking energy and climate policy framework is a prerequisite for German industry to remain competitive. In collaboration with 17 industrial companies – including Wacker and Lanxess – Foundation 2°, Agora Energiewende and Roland Berger have compiled twelve recommendations for action by politicians.