enviro is gaining ground

Krones’ enviro sustainability program was launched in 2008. It is based on a certified management system and steers the entire product development process toward sustainability. Only those Krones products that meet the following criteria can carry the blue enviro label:

• Conform at least to the EME standard¹ defined by TÜV SÜD,
• Contribute substantially to achieving energy and media-efficient and environmentally sustainable production and 
• Both of the above criteria have been proven in a certified, transparently documented testing procedure. 

To ensure the objectivity of the testing procedure, a mandatory benchmark has been defined for each enviro-relevant aspect of a product, such as compressed air and thermal energy consumption.

¹ EME = Energy and Media Efficiency, Environmental Sustainability
 

How the audit system works

The enviro management system prescribes three types of audit, each of which is to be repeated at regular intervals. All three are monitored by the independent verification organization TÜV SÜD. The most comprehensive of these audits is performed every three years and serves to re-certify the program. The latest such audit was just completed, in June 2024, at the Krones Group’s headquarters in Neutraubling, Germany, and at Steinecker, our subsidiary specializing in process technology. Besides the related systems and processes, this recent audit focused particularly on the underlying sustainability strategy. “We had to show the auditors several things, including what we have achieved so far and what our goals are going forward,” explains Christopher Urbansky, product sustainability expert at Krones. “To ensure that our targets are plausible, they were also checked for measurability.”

Verification likewise included checking how reliable and accurate our forecasts are for machine consumption, which tools we use to measure consumption and how we validate our data. In this audit, particular attention was paid to two of our process technology solutions: the EquiTherm energy recovery system and the low-temperature brewery. The results evidently impressed the auditors, because the program was recertified through 2027.

Does that mean that our enviro system now gets a three-year break from audits? Not at all. Between the big audits, there are annual monitoring audits at different sites. In 2025, these will occur at our Rosenheim and Raubling plants, to be followed by Flensburg and the newly established Krones Recycling GmbH in 2026. “Our management system also provides an additional safeguard in the form of regular internal audits,” explains Urbansky. “They are conducted by the experts in our central product sustainability team – and we run three of them each year, on different product lines. The focus here is on our enviro machines and systems, which we continuously evaluate with respect to energy and media efficiency and environmental sustainability. Each one is reviewed every three years.” The product lines are organizational units that have specialized in a particular type of product, such as filling technology or plastics technology. In order to systematically promote the enviro targets, each product line now has its own expert commission for the purpose, each consisting of one enviro specialist, one product manager and one person with expertise in energy and media. The team meets at least once every six weeks to discuss and learn about new developments. The aim is to deepen dialogue among the disciplines and together identify potential for improvements.

Making it easier for customers to choose enviro

Under Krones’ climate goals, our group needs to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in the upstream and downstream supply chains by 30 percent by 2030. The majority of these Scope 3 emissions are generated in the use phase of our products, at our customers’ plants. That means that enviro plays a crucial role in our group’s climate strategy. The more customers choose technologies with higher resource efficiency (thus permanently cutting their own carbon emissions), the more our Scope 3 emissions are reduced – which is ultimately good for the climate. 

In order to make that choice as easy as possible for our customers, we have updated our bid preparation process. Customers inquiring about a solution from Krones will now receive a bid that includes a clear breakdown of the energy and media-efficient features we offer for each application. And in particular, what media and energy savings can be achieved. Unlike before, customers no longer need to actively ask for a resource-friendly solution. They simply receive a choice of suitable options right from the start as part of the proposal, perfectly transparently with a listing of the respective costs as well.

We want to significantly reduce our machines’ Scope 3 emissions. Including enviro in bids by default is one measure aimed at accomplishing that. Our goal is to show, in our bids, just what we are capable of in terms of sustainability and to engage with our customers on the topic. We want to offer them the best possible solution – one that helps them achieve their own emissions targets. Christopher UrbanskyExpert for Product Sustainability at Krones

For our customers, that means they can see, on the basis of documented facts and figures, how quickly an investment in an enviro solution will pay for itself. As an additional piece of information and aid to decision-making, we also include a sample calculation for each enviro feature. These calculations show both the specific CO₂ and media reductions and the associated operating cost savings.

The big underlying goal here is to establish our energy and media-efficient enviro technologies as the standard – to the advantage of everyone involved. Because an investment in an enviro machine doesn’t only mean a faster return on investment for our customers. It also helps Krones meet its group-wide Scope 3 emissions targets and thus contribute substantially to mitigating climate change.