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We are mindful of resources.

Protecting the climate

For us, embarking on the #AchteMalDrauf climate protection mission means first and foremost measuring our CO2 emissions and focusing on avoiding and reducing CO2 emissions. Systematically and continuously.

The annual calculation of our carbon footprint based on the internationally recognized “Greenhouse Gas Protocol” standard gives us clarity about how effective the measures we have implemented are and where we stand on our path to greater climate protection. When systematically measuring our CO2 emissions, we consider the direct (= Scope 1) and the indirect greenhouse gas emissions that are significant for us (= Scope 2 & 3). This makes it clear which emissions are caused directly at the sites (Scope 1) and which are generated indirectly from purchased energy (Scope 2) or within the upstream and downstream value chain (Scope 3).

How we avoid and reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption at our plants

Many individual steps help us to gradually reduce our CO2 footprint. We believe that relying on renewable energies is the way forward. The switch to green electricity has had the greatest effect on reducing our carbon footprint so far. We have been using this at all Katjes locations since 2015. In 2023, we further expanded this approach and generate part of the energy ourselves! Thanks to our first photovoltaic system at the Emmerich site, the sun also supplies us with green electricity. And another innovation has been implemented: our own biogas from our new sewage gas plant is now efficiently replacing some of our natural gas.

In addition, our teams are constantly optimizing energy consumption in our factories, thus ensuring lower consumption per tonne produced. This is made possible by investing in innovative technical solutions and more resource-efficient processes, among other things. Our combined heat and power plant for generating our own electricity and modern heat recovery systems, which enable us to use waste heat efficiently ourselves, contribute to this, for example.

The measures for more climate protection are having an impact: we reduced our carbon footprint per tonne for Scope 1 and 2 by 14% in 2022 compared to the previous year! We will continue on this path in the future. Our new target: by 2027, we want to save a further 15% in absolute emissions despite growth.

And how does leaving out gelatine improve the CO2 footprint of the products?

It is not only the emissions from production that are included in the CO2 footprint. A large proportion of our emissions, around 80%, are caused by the cultivation and processing of the raw materials for our products. And this is where the absence of animal gelatine in Katjes fruit gum and licorice products has a major, positive effect on our product-related carbon footprint! Producing all our products purely vegetarian and more and more vegan not only promotes animal welfare, but we also take responsibility for the environment: the vegetarian Green Ear Bears, for example, release almost 20% less climate-damaging CO2 than a comparable product with gelatine. A great effect that has made us a pioneer in our industry since the changeover in 2016.

The best thing is: we are continuing to make progress! We are in regular contact with our suppliers to identify further savings to improve our carbon footprint. We keep track of the measures they take and what we can do together to protect the climate. Because effective climate protection is only possible as a team!
 

The packaging of the future.

Let’s start with the good news. We use 100% recycled materials for our boxes. All our packaging can be recycled. We regularly review the situation to see how we can optimize it. But our packaging does have to meet very exacting standards in order to keep our products fresh, hygienic and full of flavor. Presently, we can’t see any alternative to plastic. Unfortunately. We’re not interested in greenwashing, so we scrutinize alternatives to plastic very carefully.

Unfortunately, bioplastics are anything but resource-friendly. They don’t decompose naturally, and they can’t always be recycled. Manufacturing paper packaging would require enormous amounts of energy and water. Even then, we’d still need to coat paper bags with plastic to keep our products fresh which, in our humble opinion, defeats the point. Instead, we’ve decided that we want to be real packaging pioneers. We want to develop a genuine alternative to plastic. And we’re working on it!

You have a great idea for how we could package our products better? Please submit it to info@katjes.de.

Being mindful of resources means using fewer of them.

We constantly review our production processes and modernize our machines to ensure we use as few raw materials as possible. For example, we’ve installed state-of-the-art cooling units, our own cogeneration plant and thermal insulation, and we’ve optimized our compressed air processes and other processes to cut down on our carbon emissions and make sure that, day by day, we use less electricity and water.

Handling resources mindfully means generating as little waste as possible. 80% of our raw materials are delivered in reusable containers. This means we have virtually no packaging waste in our factories. And we don’t waste any food. Because if any of our products don’t quite meet our exacting quality standards, we simply sell them as factory seconds.

‘All veggie’ benefits the environment, too.

Intensive livestock farming is accelerating climate change. The carbon footprint for one kilo of vegetables is twenty times lower than for one kilo of pork. And vegetables need considerably less water, too. We’ve noticed a real difference since transitioning our entire production to vegetarian. For example, when we produce our Grün-Ohr-Bärchen (green-eared bears), our harmful emissions (e.g. CO2 and methane) are around 20% lower than for gummy bears that contain gelatin. And we use 42% less water. So changing our production was a win win situation all around – for animals and for all of us.

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