The Freudenberg Group is committed to driving forward the energy transition, both through its products and within its own company. Its aim is to become CO₂ neutral by 2045. To this end, the company has set itself a new intermediate target of reducing its CO₂ emissions by 65 per cent by 2030 (compared to 2020).
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. That is why sustainability is a high priority for Freudenberg. For the company, this primarily involves resource efficiency in terms of energy and materials. Since 2020, Freudenberg has reduced its CO₂ emissions – measured in relation to sales – by 45 percent (based on Scope 1 and 2). This means Freudenberg is on track to achieve climate neutrality better and faster than originally thought. The original target for the end of 2025 was a 25 percent reduction. The company therefore set itself a new ambitious intermediate target: Freudenberg wants to reduce its CO₂ emissions by 65 percent by 2030 (again compared to 2020).
Business groups responsible for their own path
The CO₂ targets are set at the Freudenberg Group level and serve as strategic guidelines for all business groups. These are responsible for defining, planning, and implementing their specific path to CO₂ reduction – depending on their production technology, regional availability and prices of energy, and customer needs.
The business groups are supported by a series of conceptual measures that have been introduced since 2021 as part of the “Sustainability Drives Climate Action” project. For example, Freudenberg Service’s “Bee” team offers advice on energy efficiency, Freudenberg Business Services strategically purchases “green” energy, and Freudenberg Real Estate has created a photovoltaics manual. Sustainability is also integrated into the strategic planning process.
How did we arrive at the 2030 target?
A bottom-up approach was chosen to set the new target. First, in 2024, the business groups with the highest energy consumption (Freudenberg Performance Materials, Vibracoustic and Freudenberg Sealing Technologies) developed individual targets for 2030. In the first half of 2025, Freudenberg’s energy efficiency and energy procurement experts developed company-wide scenarios. A benchmark analysis was also carried out.
Where does Freudenberg Sealing Technologies currently stand?
Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST) multi-stage strategy on the path to climate neutrality focuses on conserving materials and energy. Optimized processes and modern manufacturing technologies boost efficiency while reducing consumption and emissions. FST also electrifies wherever possible and practical; it has already converted large parts of its processes to electricity. At the same time, FST is expanding its procurement and in-house generation of green electricity from renewable sources.
The company has already reached one ambitious milestone on the path to CO₂ neutrality: From 2020 to 2025, it succeeded in reducing its CO₂ emissions by 30 percent, measured in tons of CO₂ per million euros of revenue. Along these lines, FST will stay on course.
“We have already reached one ambitious milestone on the path to CO2 neutrality: From 2020 to 2025, we succeeded in significantly reducing our CO2 emissions, measured in tons of CO₂ per million euros of revenue, exceeding the Freudenberg Group’s target of 25 percent. We are staying on course and working consistently to achieve further reductions,” says Jens Trabter, Global Director of Sustainability. The expert is therefore confident that the new target of 65 percent will also be achieved earlier than 2030.
