In Mahle Group’s Sustainability Report 2023, the company said it successfully continued its sustainability activities in 2023, namely making progress in reducing its CO2 emissions. The company said it reached a milestone with the validation of its climate targets for 2030 by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). In addition, Mahle implemented an externally validated method for calculating the environmental impact of its products, which it said enables product development for the benefit of its customers to become significantly more sustainable.

“We are on track with our sustainability goals,” said Georg Dietz, member of the group management board and responsible, among other things, for sustainability, environmental management and occupational safety. “Sustainable thinking and acting permeates all areas of activity for our group. That is why we have firmly anchored measurable sustainability goals in our Mahle 2030+ Group strategy.”

Compared with the base year 2019, Mahle said it reduced its emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels (Scope 1) and the import of purchased electricity (Scope 2) by 43%. According to the company, this puts the technology group on track to achieve its intermediate goal of reducing these emissions by 49% by 2030. Mahle aims to become CO2-neutral by 2040, following the goals set out in the Paris Agreement.

Compared to 2022, Mahle said it increased its use of renewable electricity by 10%. This was mainly achieved via the increased use of solar power – for example, in a new installation at the plant in Izmir (Turkey). In addition, Mahle leveraged solar thermal energy, such as at the Mahle site in Gurgaon, India, to operate a water heating system.

Mahle also said it reduced emissions in the area of supply chain and product use (Scope 3) by 9%. For 2030, the reduction target for this area is 28% of 2019 levels.

In terms of occupational safety, Mahle said it came a big step closer to its goal of reducing the accident rate to 2.3 per million work hours by 2030. This measurement takes into account all accidents which result in at least one workday being lost. In 2023, the rate dropped from 3.0 to 2.8.

“This is a very good development. We make no compromises when it comes to protecting our employees in the workplace. Occupational safety is a Mahle top priority,” said Kathrin Apel, global head of sustainability, health, occupational safety, and environmental management at Mahle.

In 2023, 20 Mahle plants were certified according to the ISO 45001 standard, the company said. This brings the number of certified locations to 123. The ISO 45001 standard consists of requirements for occupational health and safety management to minimize the risk of health damage and accidents in the workplace.

In the year under review, Mahle said it also adjusted its targets for the promotion of women to leadership positions as part of its group strategy. By 2030, the group aims to increase the proportion of women worldwide from the current 8-13% in the first management level and from the current 11-18% in the second management.

Mahle said its Sustainability Report 2023 provides insights into the current progress of the company’s sustainability initiatives and was written following the standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).