Month: June 2023

By Liz Peters

Frederick Law Olmsted was an American landscape architect and social activist. Credited with the creation of Central Park in New York City and having served as an early supporter for the North of the U.S. Civil War, he had a deep desire to improve our world.

Olmsted’s footprint and tenacious spirit has influenced tens of thousands–including Hiroki Hiramatsu.

With Olmsted being such a strong catalyst for Hiramatsu’s career, it’s no wonder that he set out to translate a bestselling biography of Olmsted into Japanese. The book, A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the 19th Century by Witold Rybczynski, had a lasting influence on Hiramatsu, helping shape his vision on how to transform urban settings.

“The man who created Central Park was an activist…[the book] was inspiring in how to fight against disparity and inequality, and [the power of] sending out a message to the public. And for me that is running a sustainable consulting firm.”

Hiramatsu is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Woonerf, a firm that’s centered on creating better spaces and places–with themes from Olmsted’s philosophies woven in the fabric of the firm. Woonerf provides green building consulting and sustainable urban landscape principles to help clients improve environmental performance, people’s well-being and public perception of environmental, social and corporate governance initiatives–while securing economic benefits.

Woonerf is the first organization in the world to achieve the WELL Equity Rating for its office, a framework that helps organizations take action toward their diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility goals, while improving company culture and employee health and well-being.

“Disability and inequality are hard to see,” explained Hiramatsu, sharing that it can be difficult to determine how to take action on solving such issues–but it is critical to do so.

And Woonerf has certainly taken action. In pursuing and achieving the WELL Equity Rating, the organization has overhauled its survey practices as well as recruitment tactics. Specific actions included implementing DEI support systems; providing restorative space; and supporting victims of domestic violence including creating a custom survey that will be implemented every year. The team also offers thermal and lighting control in the workplace, as well as acoustic work zone control, creating an enhanced sense of comfort and choice for all employees.

“Equity is a very important message to people interested in joining our company, as well as our current employees,” said Nobuaki Koyama, CFO of Woonerf. On its career page, Woonerf’s values are on display, clearly articulating benefits that align with WELL. They also share employee statistics, from the rate of parental leave taken for those eligible (100%) to what percentage of employees like hiking (36%).

Upon the rating’s launch, Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO, IWBI, said: “Many organizations have made commitments to DEI, but precious few have a roadmap for activation. The WELL Equity Rating is a transformative new offering that empowers organizations to make good on their promises.”

Not only has the Woonerf team made good on their promises, but they are striving for better. In support of pursuing WELL feature EB11, Support Victims of Domestic Violence, the team surveyed staff regarding their experiences.

Koyama explained they wanted to create an environment where everyone could feel comfortable coming forward with struggles, issues or otherwise–that it’s within the company’s DNA to be open to their people.

“We should not be satisfied with those results only. We want employees to feel safe, to feel happy. If there is any sort of trouble, we are ready to hear.”

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DÜSSELDORF, Germany, June 23, 2023 /3BL/ – Henkel has a longstanding track-record as a leader in sustainability for decades and constantly drives transformational change to create value for its stakeholders. Last year, the company accelerated its efforts as part of its 2030+ Sustainability Ambition Framework including the ambition to achieve climate positive operations by 2030. The Adhesive Technologies business unit has translated this framework into its specific Sustainability Ambition 2030 and aims to lead by example as well as through technologies.

Adhesive Technologies is operating 124 sites around the globe, the vast majority of Henkel´s facilities. To execute towards its ambition the business unit is investing into a broad variety of sustainability projects in operations. The focus is on increasing the use of electricity generated from renewable sources, implementing state-of-the-art technologies to generate thermal energy without fossil fuels and increasing the circularity of water and production material usage.

“Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time and with the ambition of becoming climate positive in operations by 2030 Henkel is leading in the industry for adhesives, sealants and functional coatings,” said Dimitri Kozak, Head of Sustainability and Environmental Performance in Operations at Henkel Adhesive Technologies. “Thus, we are taking holistic actions in all our manufacturing sites around the globe. As a first milestone we want to become carbon neutral in production. We have achieved carbon neutrality in our aerospace manufacturing plant in the Montornès del Valles (Montornès) plant in Spain. This year, we have already turned three further adhesive production sites to carbon neutrality with much more to come in the near future.”

Carbon neutral production

To achieve carbon neutral production Adhesive Technologies constantly invests into technologies enabling the local use of 100% electric and thermal energy. Once installed, manufacturing sites start changing the supply of sources to renewable alternatives such as biomass or biogas. By combining on-site renewable energy and green energy procurement the aerospace manufacturing plant in Montornès already has become a lighthouse project for Adhesive Technologies. This year, the adhesives manufacturing sites in Chennai, India, Tuzla, Turkey, and Bileca, Bosnia and Herzegovina, have become carbon neutral as well. The three plants have reached this goal by drawing electricity from on- and offsite renewable energy sources, along with the deployment of energy efficient solutions such as LED lighting, smart motion sensors and natural lighting. All fossil fuel users such as hot water boilers and heating have been replaced by electrical systems.

Electricity generated from renewable sources

By end of 2022, about 60% of all sites operated by Adhesive Technologies already used electricity generated from renewable sources. In Mexico, for example, all manufacturing facilities have been equipped with technologies that enable 100% usage of electricity from renewable sources. In Australia, the business unit has invested into its plants in Seven Hills, New South Wales, and Kilsyth, Victoria. With this, all adhesive manufacturing sites in the country are powered by 100% renewable electricity. When building new sites Henkel implements sustainability already into the design phase. For example, the Songdo plant in Korea, opened in 2022, incorporates a broad range of sustainability features, including solar panels, a rainwater recycling system and energy-efficient equipment.

Continuous efforts to increase energy efficiency

Investments into technologies that help replacing fossil fuels for the generation of thermal energy is another important building block to significantly reduce the CO2-footprint in productions. In its Cannon Falls plant in Minnesota, US, Adhesive Technologies has implemented a regenerative thermal oxidizer technology which provides higher efficiency and reduces gas consumption. The process thermally treats volatile organic compounds instead of releasing them into the atmosphere. As a result, the site reduces direct emissions and in average can save more than 11,000MWh of gas annually.

Increasing circularity

The use of circular water as well as the circular use of production waste material is another key priority of Adhesive Technologies. By optimizing the hot water cleaning process in one of its adhesive production facilities in Düsseldorf, Germany, the business unit will be able to save up to 50% freshwater for each cleaning and disinfection cycle and 50% of energy. The Cannon Falls site has implemented a facility chiller estimated to save 18,000 m3 of water annually. The new chiller system replaced individual units which require city water with a centralized, continuous circulating system of water and glycol mixture. The Warren facility in Michigan, US, has introduced a reverse osmosis system that increases the water reuse and reduces water consumption by 40% annually.

In addition, Adhesive Technologies is constantly improving its disposal methods of its waste streams. 85% of all adhesive manufacturing sites have achieved zero waste to landfill status (ZWTL). The Chivilcoy plant in Argentina has implemented a novel biological waste treatment process with earthworms that transform materials into organic matter. This process allows the annual re-use of around 2,500m3 of wastewater and the generation of 50m3 of compost that donated to local agricultural producers and for environmental awareness events.

With all these initiatives and projects Henkel Adhesive Technologies is constantly driving progress towards its sustainability ambitions in production.

About Henkel 
With its brands, innovations and technologies, Henkel holds leading market positions worldwide in the industrial and consumer businesses. The Adhesive Technologies business unit is the global leader in the market for adhesives, sealants and functional coatings. With Consumer Brands, the company holds leading positions especially in hair care and laundry & home care in many markets and categories around the world. The company’s three strongest brands are Loctite, Persil and Schwarzkopf. In fiscal 2022, Henkel reported sales of more than 22 billion euros and adjusted operating profit of around 2.3 billion euros. Henkel’s preferred shares are listed in the German stock index DAX. Sustainability has a long tradition at Henkel, and the company has a clear sustainability strategy with specific targets. Henkel was founded in 1876 and today employs a diverse team of more than 50,000 people worldwide – united by a strong corporate culture, shared values and a common purpose: “Pioneers at heart for the good of generations.” More information at www.henkel.com. 

Media Contact 
Sebastian Hinz 
+49 211 797-85 94
sebastian.hinz@henkel.com