Hilti goes greener
27 April 2021
Hilti is renowned for its bright red livery but it is also now highlighting the colour green. That’s because the Hilti Group has published its new sustainability report setting out ambitious targets to meet the challenges imposed by climate change and its related social responsibilities.
The programme focuses on three areas, namely the environment, people and society.
Regarding the environment, Hilti is bringing forward its target of CO2 neutrality in its own value chain, originally set for 2030, to 2023. The transition of the energy supply at all Hilti sites worldwide to using electricity from renewable sources was already completed at the end of 2020.
The company says this will lead to CO2 savings of more than 20%, or 40,000 metric tonnes, per year. The worldwide vehicle fleet of around 14,000 vehicles is also being changed to more environmentally friendly drive systems.
Hilti is also focusing on the principle of a circular economy, or decoupling resource consumption from economic growth. It claims to be the first company worldwide to apply a newly developed method for measuring the expansion of the circular economy at various levels.
Planned strategies include the further development of the Hilti’s fleet management service for its electric tools, which operates according to a ‘product-as-a-service’ principle. The proportion of recycled material used in products and packaging will also be increased.
“We are convinced that long-term success is only secured through business decisions that value environmental, people and social aspects equally with economic factors,” said Christoph Loos, CEO of the Hilti Group.
“We are aware that this is a journey with several stations still ahead of us. But we have set ourselves ambitious goals, are committed to the principles of the UN Global Compact and will leave no stone unturned. At the same time, we also want to support our customers in the construction industry in becoming more sustainable.”
In relation to the element of ‘people’, Hilti is addressing, among other topics, the health and safety of site workers. The aim is to reduce the long-term health effects triggered by heavy physical strain.
Two examples launched by Hilti in 2020 are the BIM-enabled (building information modelling) construction site robot, Jaibot (pictured), and the EXO-O1 exoskeleton, for supporting and relieving the strain on workers during particularly demanding physical work.
