Clarios, the world’s leading battery manufacturer, is promoting sustainable initiatives. “Our commitment to the environment is an important part of our corporate responsibility,” said Clarios’ vice president, Christian Rosenkranz. “We constantly aim to minimise the environmental impacts of our products and processes. Sustainability is one of the key principles of our company: Our technologies and processes set standards in the industry for health, safety and environmental protection in both production and recycling.”
All Clarios environmental and energy management systems are certified to the relevant ISO standards.
“This is the cornerstone on which we are building our enhanced sustainability concept,” Rosenkranz emphasised.
Closed cycle
Working in conjunction with customers and partners, Clarios has developed a reliable and established closed cycle recycling system. Within Europe, this enables more than 98 percent of vehicle lead batteries to be recovered and a large proportion of the materials contained to be reused.
As a result, 90 percent of the materials in lead-acid batteries can be recovered and recycled. 75 percent of the lead in European lead-acid batteries is now obtained from recycled sources.
Clarios’ global recycling network means that automotive batteries are the most recycled consumer product in the world’s major economies – ahead of aluminum, paper, tires and glass.
This conserves resources and prevents greenhouse gas emissions caused by the purchase of new battery materials. In addition, all sustainability managers at Clarios provide regular training for all employees and encourage them to submit their ideas for improvement. This has resulted in a 25 percent reduction in energy consumption and a 35 percent reduction of water consumption in the battery manufacturing process in just ten years.
Furthermore, Clarios’ developments help consumers to save energy, protect the environment and reduce fuel consumption. For example, eight out of ten new vehicles with fuel-saving start-stop technology are now equipped with an AGM or EFB battery from Clarios.
Responsible cooperation
Clarios is a signatory to the Global Compact of the United Nations. The company has committed to ten universal sustainability principles and takes responsibility for human rights, labour and environmental protection, as well as anti-corruption measures. “We take our duty of care very seriously and even go above and beyond this,” added Rosenkranz. “We are fully committed to compliance with all international standards for a sustainable supply chain. Because of this, we also require that our suppliers also meet our industry-leading sustainability standards.”
The Clarios Foundation takes the initiative
The Clarios Foundation plays a special role by focusing on children’s health. Together with UNICEF and the US non-profit organisation Pure Earth, the Clarios Foundation has launched the Protecting Every Child’s Potential (PECP) initiative to prevent children from being exposed to lead. “This has brought us another step closer to our goal of making the world a little better,” concluded Rosenkranz.
