Henkel Adhesives Technologies drives end-to-end transparency on sustainability across its product portfolio

As a global leader in adhesives, sealants and functional coatings Henkel Adhesive Technologies is constantly driving sustainability based on its Sustainability Ambition 2030. The business unit aims to lead by example as well as through innovative technologies – and by providing full transparency on the sustainability impacts of individual products in the cradle-to-gate and use phase. This so-called end-to-end transparency which is based on reliable data and a consistent measurement methodology according to leading international standards is essential to improve Henkel´s footprint as well as the footprint of its customers. 

To provide its more than 100.000 customers in over 800 industry segments with a comprehensive sustainability profile and performance of its products, Adhesive Technologies has developed and implemented a digital solution in collaboration with Henkel´s digital department and Capgemini. This novel measurement platform – the ‘Henkel Environmental Assessment Reporting Tool’ (HEART) –enables the automatic calculation of the product carbon footprint of about 58,000 products. The tool maps the cradle-to-gate emissions including the emissions of raw materials, production, packaging, and logistics. This calculation methodology has been thoroughly verified and certified by TÜV Rheinland (ID-Nr. 0000086028: Henkel AG & Co. KGaA – Certipedia).

“Our certified calculation methodology combines high-quality data with a novel digital measurement platform and enables us to quickly provide comprehensive PCF reports across a significant and continuously increasing percentage of our products,” explained Ulla Hüppe, Vice President Sustainability at Henkel Adhesive Technologies. “Our customers now receive full transparency on the individual cradle-to-gate sustainability impact of the vast majority of our portfolio which is essential for them to better understand the impact of their products and to further reduce their emissions. The novel HEART tool not only marks another important milestone towards our promise to deliver 100 percent end-to-end transparency on all our products by 2030. It also helps us to analyze and steer our portfolio based on data-driven results and to further expand our low emission products portfolio in the future.”

Henkel is participating in different industrial sustainability initiatives to pioneer and collaborate in transparency for end-to-end product life cycle analysis and PCF reporting. The company is a member of ‘Together for Sustainability’, an initiative that supports and coordinates the measurement of the sustainability performance of chemical companies and their suppliers. Henkel also has joined Catena-X, a pan-European network that aims to standardize the methodology for calculating footprints and the associated data exchange for all participants in the automotive value chain.