Reporting of tracked indicators

Understanding and reducing the environmental impact of our own operations and business is integral to our work on sustainability at Bühler. 

With regard to the emissions resulting from the Group’s energy consumption, we have committed to a 60% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in Scopes 1 and 2 by 2030. This is in comparison to a baseline year 2019. To reach this target, our priority is currently on reducing energy consumption in our manufacturing processes and buildings. Therefore, we also measure energy consumption relative to various indicators such as manufacturing hours. Following this, we investigate alternative, greener sources of energy, and after evaluating these options, we look at procurement of green electricity through certificates.

Looking at our wider impact on the environment, we also work to reduce water consumption and waste production. We are also working to introduce metrics to measure and improve biodiversity at our sites.

In purchased goods and services, we continue to measure our emissions and work to introduce a hybrid measurement system combining primary data from suppliers and global averages. In logistics, we also continue to improve our quantification methodology, and in 2023 gained external verification of our reporting from Systain.  

By far the largest potential climate impact that Bühler can have is in enabling emissions reductions for sold goods in customer operations and increasing the efficiency of its installed base. Bühler focuses on implementing innovative solutions and services for energy efficiency, higher yield, and waste reduction through circularity. This is why Bühler has set goals to have solutions ready to multiply by 2025 that reduce energy, waste, and water by 50% in the value chains of our customers (the 50/50/50 goal). Find more information on how we plan to achieve this in Our Solutions and Services for Impact section.  

Bühler is committed to protecting and restoring biodiversity and is collaborating with Prof. Tom Crowther (ETH Zurich) and Restor to set up a science-informed program to identify suitable projects, which we can work with directly, that protect and restore nature. In 2023 we have identified a number of initial projects and continue to learn more about our potential contribution. We expect to be able to report more in 2024.

In the new reporting period, Bühler laid continued focus on the reporting of the social KPIs to reflect our values of Trust, Ownership, and Passion (TOP) and our efforts to build a people-centric culture that puts the full person, their health and wellbeing, in the center and builds the basis for their safety and high performance at work. This includes the focus on fostering a fair and equal workplace for all through the Bühler Diversity, Equity & Inclusion program. With programs such as Allyship for Leaders, the Beyond Bias workshop series, and the Women in STEM initiative and Employee Resource Groups, we aim to nurture an inclusive diverse work culture for all employees, partners, and customers. Learning and development remains core and receives continued focus at Bühler. Bühler executes on its lifelong learning commitment through apprenticeship programs, leadership development programs at all levels, and technical training offerings for employees at all stages of their career through a global network of Application & Training Centers and training schools complemented by learning and development modules on our global B-Learning portal. Training is available for employees, customers, and partners. 

The Bühler Destination 25 strategy includes the defined targets for HR, and these are reflected in the tracked KPIs.

This year, Bühler reported a defined set of HR KPIs as “where we stand” and will further elaborate on refining these KPIs as “where we want to be”, with the setting of annual targets, actions to reach them, and support for the business with data which helps to drive profitability. The focus this year was to continue to improve data quality and establish key dashboards to provide leaders with direct access to the KPIs. 

Bühler continues to track its efforts through a set of standard HR KPIs to facilitate business strategy execution and help leaders make informed decisions and take corrective actions to drive performance and profitability.

More information on how Bühler fosters a TOP culture of inclusive diversity, health, safety, and wellbeing, as well as lifelong learning and actions towards it can be found in Our People.