\u201cNo sustain\u00adabil\u00adity, no commer\u00adcial success\u201d<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael Tr\u00e4xler is convinced that noth\u00ading will func\u00adtion in future if sustain\u00adabil\u00adity is not part of the equa\u00adtion. An inter\u00adview with the Head of the Evonik Active Oxygens Busi\u00adness Line about chem\u00adistry and sustain\u00adabil\u00adity, personal commit\u00adment, and his messages to employees.<\/h4>\n <\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nMr. Tr\u00e4xler, why is sustain\u00adabil\u00adity so impor\u00adtant to Evonik Active Oxygens?<\/h5>\n
Michael Tr\u00e4xler:<\/strong> We regard four points as being partic\u00adu\u00adlarly impor\u00adtant. First, the \u201cend of life\u201d issue plays a major role in sustain\u00adabil\u00adity<\/a>. What happens to a prod\u00aduct at the end of its life cycle? The chem\u00adi\u00adcal indus\u00adtry and other indus\u00adtries are strug\u00adgling here. It\u2019s great news in our case, because hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide degrades into water and oxygen at the end, and peracetic acid also degrades into acetic acid \u2014 in other words, into noth\u00ading but unpol\u00adluted substances. That\u2019s why we have no \u201cend of life\u201d problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThere is an incred\u00adi\u00adbly large number of appli\u00adca\u00adtions, such as food, elec\u00adtron\u00adics, water treat\u00adment or medical tech\u00adnol\u00adogy, for hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide<\/a>, peracetic acid<\/a> and persul\u00adfates<\/a>. These are all indus\u00adtries in which global mega\u00adtrends<\/a> are bring\u00ading about massive change. This also applies to green space travel<\/a>, chem\u00adi\u00adcal synthe\u00adsis or the large paper segment. It\u2019s all about the hand\u00adprint: how can our prod\u00aducts contribute to increas\u00ading sustain\u00adabil\u00adity in each segment? That is my second key point.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMy third point is: there are only a few indus\u00adtries that have a CO2<\/sub> neutral\u00adity roadmap like we do. We are aware that this jour\u00adney will not be easy and will cost many hundreds of millions of euros in invest\u00adment. But in the case of hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide, for exam\u00adple, what ulti\u00admately matters is having sustain\u00adabil\u00adity paths for hydro\u00adgen, elec\u00adtric\u00adity and steam respec\u00adtively \u2014 and all of those exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nA roadmap is one thing. But what is tech\u00adni\u00adcally feasi\u00adble right now?<\/h5>\n
It\u2019s no longer a ques\u00adtion of how. In tech\u00adnol\u00adogy terms, the issue has been resolved: we already have green elec\u00adtric\u00adity, and in fact we already use more than 80 percent green elec\u00adtric\u00adity at our produc\u00adtion sites world\u00adwide. I can obtain green hydro\u00adgen if I have enough green elec\u00adtric\u00adity. That\u2019s the big issue in indus\u00adtry right now, but it\u2019s tech\u00adni\u00adcally feasi\u00adble. And as far as steam is concerned, what matters is gener\u00ada\u00adtion using renew\u00adable ener\u00adgies and reduc\u00ading consump\u00adtion. I am pleased that we at Evonik Active Oxygens have already sketched out a concrete roadmap to take us to CO2<\/sub> neutral\u00adity. That is fantastic.<\/p>\nThose are my three main argu\u00adments. My fourth is that demand for hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide is grow\u00ading world\u00adwide by seven to eight percent a year, driven by high demand in growth segments like food or elec\u00adtron\u00adics. This presents us with partic\u00adu\u00adlar chal\u00adlenges. If we do noth\u00ading, our CO2<\/sub> emis\u00adsions will double every nine years \u2014 and that must not be allowed to happen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nThe acqui\u00adsi\u00adtion of Perox\u00ady\u00adChem has now massively increased CO2<\/sub> emis\u00adsions. Never\u00adthe\u00adless, Evonik Active Oxygens will help the Group achieve its climate targets in the future. How does that work?<\/h5>\nThe acqui\u00adsi\u00adtion of Perox\u00ady\u00adChem is a major boost, not only to sales and earn\u00adings, but also in terms of CO2<\/sub> emis\u00adsions. But we are well on track \u2014 for exam\u00adple, in addi\u00adtion to green elec\u00adtric\u00adity, we are also switch\u00ading from fossil-based acetic acid to bio-based acetic acid.<\/p>\nWe have just started a major invest\u00adment project, the aim of which is to increase our own produc\u00adtion effi\u00adciency. For exam\u00adple, how do we reduce elec\u00adtric\u00adity or water consump\u00adtion? Despite a massive increase in produc\u00adtion volumes, our CO2<\/sub> emis\u00adsions are falling, because we are taking coun\u00adter\u00admea\u00adsures \u2013 and because we started in good time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nMega\u00adtrends are a world\u00adwide phenom\u00ade\u00adnon. Does that also apply to sustainability?<\/h5>\n
To start with, sustain\u00adabil\u00adity was a Euro\u00adpean topic \u2014 espe\u00adcially when Donald Trump was pres\u00adi\u00addent of the USA. In the mean\u00adtime, sustain\u00adabil\u00adity has also become much more impor\u00adtant in other regions, espe\u00adcially in North Amer\u00adica. But regional, and in some cases even local, differ\u00adences remain, of course. Compared to our, we at Evonik Active Oxygens were among the earli\u00adest to start cham\u00adpi\u00adoning the issue of sustain\u00adabil\u00adity. Speed matters \u2014 not just as far as sustain\u00adabil\u00adity is concerned. We have to be fast with\u00adout losing sight of safety. The same applies to our customers around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nHow impor\u00adtant is it to form strate\u00adgic alliances with part\u00adners in order to main\u00adtain this speed?<\/h5>\n
Collab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtive ventures with customers and part\u00adners are impor\u00adtant. We analyze chal\u00adlenges of the future together. We cannot solve prob\u00adlems only when they arise. We have to ask this ques\u00adtion now. What is likely to happen in 2030? What is likely to happen in 2040? And what is likely to happen in 2050? What will we have the confi\u00addence to under\u00adtake in which region with which part\u00adner by what date?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nSustain\u00adabil\u00adity has three dimen\u00adsions: envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal, economic and social. How does that tally with economic sustain\u00adabil\u00adity, if massive invest\u00adments have to be made to take account of the envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal dimension?<\/h5>\n
They are two sides of the same coin. In my view, commer\u00adcial success is completely unachiev\u00adable, if we don\u2019t manage to make some head\u00adway with estab\u00adlish\u00ading a sustain\u00adabil\u00adity archi\u00adtec\u00adture. Our customers demand it, our current and future employ\u00adees demand it. And focus\u00ading on sustain\u00adabil\u00adity is essen\u00adtial for our survival as a company.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nWhat role do your employ\u00adees play in the objec\u00adtive of becom\u00ading more sustain\u00adable as a company?<\/h5>\n
Our primary objec\u00adtive \u2013 which takes prece\u00addence over any finan\u00adcial issues \u2013 is that our employ\u00adees feel comfort\u00adable work\u00ading with us and that they are safe. Every\u00adone should go home in the evening in the same state as when they arrived in the morn\u00ading \u2013 mentally even in a better place, because we really enjoy what we do. The same applies figu\u00adra\u00adtively to sustain\u00adabil\u00adity. We have a respon\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adity to see that the world remains in a state that every\u00adone can enjoy. We at Evonik Active Oxygens alone won\u2019t save the world, but every\u00adone has to play their part, no matter how small.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nNow some people say chem\u00adistry and sustain\u00adabil\u00adity aren\u2019t really compatible \u2026<\/h5>\n
We have to be honest here and say: yes, we embody chem\u00adistry. Chem\u00adistry gener\u00adally has an image prob\u00adlem, and mistakes have been made in the past. On the other hand, there can be no trans\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion with\u00adout chem\u00adistry \u2014 no car battery, no wind power, no appro\u00adpri\u00adate build\u00ading insulation.<\/p>\n
Hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide is also chem\u00adistry. But hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide also occurs in the human body, in nature. When it rains after a thun\u00adder\u00adstorm, hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide is found in grass\u00adlands. Hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide is found in honey, in roasted coffee. It\u2019s a green, natural prod\u00aduct that we don\u2019t have to be afraid of.<\/p>\n
My message to our employ\u00adees is: you will only have long-term job secu\u00adrity, if you work in an indus\u00adtry that has a future. And we need chem\u00adistry, other\u00adwise there will be no progress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nThe big-picture objec\u00adtive is one thing, but what about tangi\u00adble measures on the ground? For exam\u00adple, doing away with dispos\u00adable cups \u2026<\/h5>\n
\u2026 or motion detec\u00adtors every\u00adwhere, so that you don\u2019t consume unnec\u00ades\u00adsary elec\u00adtric\u00adity. We have installed motion detec\u00adtors at many of our sites, most recently in New Zealand. If there\u2019s a wind\u00admill in Antwerp or solar panels on the roof in New Zealand and in the future in South Africa, people see that. We also have solar panels here in Hanau.<\/p>\n
Minor details also play a role. Does the room temper\u00ada\u00adture have to be 23 degrees Celsius in winter or are 20 enough? How do I venti\u00adlate prop\u00aderly? Topics like that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nAre you your\u00adself a role model cham\u00adpi\u00adoning more sustain\u00adabil\u00adity? What are you doing?<\/h5>\n
Our candi\u00addates for the Federal Chan\u00adcel\u00adlor\u00adship were also asked a simi\u00adlar ques\u00adtion. I think the honest answer from all of them should have been, and that goes for me, too: not enough.<\/p>\n
I, for exam\u00adple, believe 20 degrees Celsius room temper\u00ada\u00adture in winter is suffi\u00adcient. If I get cold, I put on a sweater. Every degree less reduces elec\u00adtric\u00adity consump\u00adtion. And I also pay atten\u00adtion to other things, such as nutri\u00adtion. I can\u2019t do with\u00adout meat alto\u00adgether. But I do try to eat locally produced food.<\/p>\n
We have not yet got to where we are supposed to be. We all have to put in a great deal of effort to get there. But I hope that some people \u2014 and I would claim that for myself as well \u2014 have real\u00adized that things cannot go on as they have in the past few decades. You can try to be a role model, but that\u2019s no triv\u00adial matter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s clear how close to your heart this topic is. Why is sustain\u00adabil\u00adity a concern for you personally?<\/h5>\n
Sustain\u00adabil\u00adity is not just about foot\u00adprints<\/a> and hand\u00adprints<\/a>, sustain\u00adabil\u00adity is more. And that\u2019s why I like work\u00ading at Evonik. It\u2019s the culture and the concept of social skills that a company or a divi\u00adsion has. Big issues like co-deter\u00admi\u00adna\u00adtion, social bene\u00adfits, and other stan\u00addards apply glob\u00adally at our company, includ\u00ading occu\u00adpa\u00adtional safety and envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal protection.<\/p>\nThe second point that really moti\u00advates me, and this is my firm belief: sustain\u00adabil\u00adity is the nucleus, the focus, the basis of every\u00adthing we do. Sustain\u00adabil\u00adity is the start\u00ading point for every\u00adthing, and with\u00adout sustain\u00adabil\u00adity, noth\u00ading at all will func\u00adtion in the future. Every\u00adthing else revolves around it \u2014 busi\u00adness success and decent jobs for our employ\u00adees. That\u2019s what I want to promote \u2014 inter\u00adnally and externally.<\/p>\n
We would have easily achieved better results last year, if we hadn\u2019t switched our elec\u00adtric\u00adity \u201cto green\u201d. But in the end, these are the things that matter. And in that respect, we have to get our people on board. It is a matter of personal concern to me that we make further progress here. This has to do with common decency and atti\u00adtude. By living up to our own values and being respon\u00adsi\u00adble toward our employees.<\/p>\n
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\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Tr\u00e4xler is passion\u00adate about sustain\u00adabil\u00adity. The Head of Evonik Active Oxygens explains his strat\u00adegy and why being a role model is not trivial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":424,"template":"","article-category":[79],"article-tag":[89,100],"acf":{"top_article":false},"yoast_head":"\n
Michael Tr\u00e4xler, Evonik Active Oxygens, talks sustainability<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Head of the Business Line talks about his strategy, the climate neutrality roadmap and his sustainability message to employees in this interview.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/active-oxygens-sustainability.evonik.com\/en\/articles\/interview-with-michael-traexler\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michael Tr\u00e4xler, Evonik Active Oxygens, talks sustainability\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Head of the Business Line talks about his strategy, the climate neutrality roadmap and his sustainability message to employees in this interview.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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The Head of Evonik Active Oxygens explains his strategy and why being a role model is not trivial.","permalink":"https:\/\/active-oxygens-sustainability.evonik.com\/en\/articles\/interview-with-michael-traexler\/"},"term":{"title":"Inter\u00adview with Michael Tr\u00e4xler","permalink":"https:\/\/active-oxygens-sustainability.evonik.com\/en\/articles\/interview-with-michael-traexler\/","categories":"<li class=\"tag-line__item\" data-scroll>\n <a href=\"https:\/\/active-oxygens-sustainability.evonik.com\/en\/article-tag\/our-roadmap\/\"\n alt=\"View all posts in our roadmap\">\n #our roadmap<\/a><\/li> <li class=\"tag-line__item\" data-scroll>\n <a href=\"https:\/\/active-oxygens-sustainability.evonik.com\/en\/article-tag\/strategy\/\"\n alt=\"View all posts in strategy\">\n #strategy<\/a><\/li> "},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/active-oxygens-sustainability.evonik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/3026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/active-oxygens-sustainability.evonik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/active-oxygens-sustainability.evonik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/active-oxygens-sustainability.evonik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/active-oxygens-sustainability.evonik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/active-oxygens-sustainability.evonik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-category?post=3026"},{"taxonomy":"article-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/active-oxygens-sustainability.evonik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-tag?post=3026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Mr. Tr\u00e4xler, why is sustain\u00adabil\u00adity so impor\u00adtant to Evonik Active Oxygens?<\/h5>\n
Michael Tr\u00e4xler:<\/strong> We regard four points as being partic\u00adu\u00adlarly impor\u00adtant. First, the \u201cend of life\u201d issue plays a major role in sustain\u00adabil\u00adity<\/a>. What happens to a prod\u00aduct at the end of its life cycle? The chem\u00adi\u00adcal indus\u00adtry and other indus\u00adtries are strug\u00adgling here. It\u2019s great news in our case, because hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide degrades into water and oxygen at the end, and peracetic acid also degrades into acetic acid \u2014 in other words, into noth\u00ading but unpol\u00adluted substances. That\u2019s why we have no \u201cend of life\u201d problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is an incred\u00adi\u00adbly large number of appli\u00adca\u00adtions, such as food, elec\u00adtron\u00adics, water treat\u00adment or medical tech\u00adnol\u00adogy, for hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide<\/a>, peracetic acid<\/a> and persul\u00adfates<\/a>. These are all indus\u00adtries in which global mega\u00adtrends<\/a> are bring\u00ading about massive change. This also applies to green space travel<\/a>, chem\u00adi\u00adcal synthe\u00adsis or the large paper segment. It\u2019s all about the hand\u00adprint: how can our prod\u00aducts contribute to increas\u00ading sustain\u00adabil\u00adity in each segment? That is my second key point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My third point is: there are only a few indus\u00adtries that have a CO2<\/sub> neutral\u00adity roadmap like we do. We are aware that this jour\u00adney will not be easy and will cost many hundreds of millions of euros in invest\u00adment. But in the case of hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide, for exam\u00adple, what ulti\u00admately matters is having sustain\u00adabil\u00adity paths for hydro\u00adgen, elec\u00adtric\u00adity and steam respec\u00adtively \u2014 and all of those exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s no longer a ques\u00adtion of how. In tech\u00adnol\u00adogy terms, the issue has been resolved: we already have green elec\u00adtric\u00adity, and in fact we already use more than 80 percent green elec\u00adtric\u00adity at our produc\u00adtion sites world\u00adwide. I can obtain green hydro\u00adgen if I have enough green elec\u00adtric\u00adity. That\u2019s the big issue in indus\u00adtry right now, but it\u2019s tech\u00adni\u00adcally feasi\u00adble. And as far as steam is concerned, what matters is gener\u00ada\u00adtion using renew\u00adable ener\u00adgies and reduc\u00ading consump\u00adtion. I am pleased that we at Evonik Active Oxygens have already sketched out a concrete roadmap to take us to CO2<\/sub> neutral\u00adity. That is fantastic.<\/p>\n Those are my three main argu\u00adments. My fourth is that demand for hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide is grow\u00ading world\u00adwide by seven to eight percent a year, driven by high demand in growth segments like food or elec\u00adtron\u00adics. This presents us with partic\u00adu\u00adlar chal\u00adlenges. If we do noth\u00ading, our CO2<\/sub> emis\u00adsions will double every nine years \u2014 and that must not be allowed to happen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n The acqui\u00adsi\u00adtion of Perox\u00ady\u00adChem is a major boost, not only to sales and earn\u00adings, but also in terms of CO2<\/sub> emis\u00adsions. But we are well on track \u2014 for exam\u00adple, in addi\u00adtion to green elec\u00adtric\u00adity, we are also switch\u00ading from fossil-based acetic acid to bio-based acetic acid.<\/p>\n We have just started a major invest\u00adment project, the aim of which is to increase our own produc\u00adtion effi\u00adciency. For exam\u00adple, how do we reduce elec\u00adtric\u00adity or water consump\u00adtion? Despite a massive increase in produc\u00adtion volumes, our CO2<\/sub> emis\u00adsions are falling, because we are taking coun\u00adter\u00admea\u00adsures \u2013 and because we started in good time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n To start with, sustain\u00adabil\u00adity was a Euro\u00adpean topic \u2014 espe\u00adcially when Donald Trump was pres\u00adi\u00addent of the USA. In the mean\u00adtime, sustain\u00adabil\u00adity has also become much more impor\u00adtant in other regions, espe\u00adcially in North Amer\u00adica. But regional, and in some cases even local, differ\u00adences remain, of course. Compared to our, we at Evonik Active Oxygens were among the earli\u00adest to start cham\u00adpi\u00adoning the issue of sustain\u00adabil\u00adity. Speed matters \u2014 not just as far as sustain\u00adabil\u00adity is concerned. We have to be fast with\u00adout losing sight of safety. The same applies to our customers around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n Collab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtive ventures with customers and part\u00adners are impor\u00adtant. We analyze chal\u00adlenges of the future together. We cannot solve prob\u00adlems only when they arise. We have to ask this ques\u00adtion now. What is likely to happen in 2030? What is likely to happen in 2040? And what is likely to happen in 2050? What will we have the confi\u00addence to under\u00adtake in which region with which part\u00adner by what date?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n They are two sides of the same coin. In my view, commer\u00adcial success is completely unachiev\u00adable, if we don\u2019t manage to make some head\u00adway with estab\u00adlish\u00ading a sustain\u00adabil\u00adity archi\u00adtec\u00adture. Our customers demand it, our current and future employ\u00adees demand it. And focus\u00ading on sustain\u00adabil\u00adity is essen\u00adtial for our survival as a company.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Our primary objec\u00adtive \u2013 which takes prece\u00addence over any finan\u00adcial issues \u2013 is that our employ\u00adees feel comfort\u00adable work\u00ading with us and that they are safe. Every\u00adone should go home in the evening in the same state as when they arrived in the morn\u00ading \u2013 mentally even in a better place, because we really enjoy what we do. The same applies figu\u00adra\u00adtively to sustain\u00adabil\u00adity. We have a respon\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adity to see that the world remains in a state that every\u00adone can enjoy. We at Evonik Active Oxygens alone won\u2019t save the world, but every\u00adone has to play their part, no matter how small.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n We have to be honest here and say: yes, we embody chem\u00adistry. Chem\u00adistry gener\u00adally has an image prob\u00adlem, and mistakes have been made in the past. On the other hand, there can be no trans\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion with\u00adout chem\u00adistry \u2014 no car battery, no wind power, no appro\u00adpri\u00adate build\u00ading insulation.<\/p>\n Hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide is also chem\u00adistry. But hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide also occurs in the human body, in nature. When it rains after a thun\u00adder\u00adstorm, hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide is found in grass\u00adlands. Hydro\u00adgen perox\u00adide is found in honey, in roasted coffee. It\u2019s a green, natural prod\u00aduct that we don\u2019t have to be afraid of.<\/p>\n My message to our employ\u00adees is: you will only have long-term job secu\u00adrity, if you work in an indus\u00adtry that has a future. And we need chem\u00adistry, other\u00adwise there will be no progress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n \u2026 or motion detec\u00adtors every\u00adwhere, so that you don\u2019t consume unnec\u00ades\u00adsary elec\u00adtric\u00adity. We have installed motion detec\u00adtors at many of our sites, most recently in New Zealand. If there\u2019s a wind\u00admill in Antwerp or solar panels on the roof in New Zealand and in the future in South Africa, people see that. We also have solar panels here in Hanau.<\/p>\n Minor details also play a role. Does the room temper\u00ada\u00adture have to be 23 degrees Celsius in winter or are 20 enough? How do I venti\u00adlate prop\u00aderly? Topics like that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Our candi\u00addates for the Federal Chan\u00adcel\u00adlor\u00adship were also asked a simi\u00adlar ques\u00adtion. I think the honest answer from all of them should have been, and that goes for me, too: not enough.<\/p>\n I, for exam\u00adple, believe 20 degrees Celsius room temper\u00ada\u00adture in winter is suffi\u00adcient. If I get cold, I put on a sweater. Every degree less reduces elec\u00adtric\u00adity consump\u00adtion. And I also pay atten\u00adtion to other things, such as nutri\u00adtion. I can\u2019t do with\u00adout meat alto\u00adgether. But I do try to eat locally produced food.<\/p>\n We have not yet got to where we are supposed to be. We all have to put in a great deal of effort to get there. But I hope that some people \u2014 and I would claim that for myself as well \u2014 have real\u00adized that things cannot go on as they have in the past few decades. You can try to be a role model, but that\u2019s no triv\u00adial matter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Sustain\u00adabil\u00adity is not just about foot\u00adprints<\/a> and hand\u00adprints<\/a>, sustain\u00adabil\u00adity is more. And that\u2019s why I like work\u00ading at Evonik. It\u2019s the culture and the concept of social skills that a company or a divi\u00adsion has. Big issues like co-deter\u00admi\u00adna\u00adtion, social bene\u00adfits, and other stan\u00addards apply glob\u00adally at our company, includ\u00ading occu\u00adpa\u00adtional safety and envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal protection.<\/p>\n The second point that really moti\u00advates me, and this is my firm belief: sustain\u00adabil\u00adity is the nucleus, the focus, the basis of every\u00adthing we do. Sustain\u00adabil\u00adity is the start\u00ading point for every\u00adthing, and with\u00adout sustain\u00adabil\u00adity, noth\u00ading at all will func\u00adtion in the future. Every\u00adthing else revolves around it \u2014 busi\u00adness success and decent jobs for our employ\u00adees. That\u2019s what I want to promote \u2014 inter\u00adnally and externally.<\/p>\n We would have easily achieved better results last year, if we hadn\u2019t switched our elec\u00adtric\u00adity \u201cto green\u201d. But in the end, these are the things that matter. And in that respect, we have to get our people on board. It is a matter of personal concern to me that we make further progress here. This has to do with common decency and atti\u00adtude. By living up to our own values and being respon\u00adsi\u00adble toward our employees.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Michael Tr\u00e4xler is passion\u00adate about sustain\u00adabil\u00adity. The Head of Evonik Active Oxygens explains his strat\u00adegy and why being a role model is not trivial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":424,"template":"","article-category":[79],"article-tag":[89,100],"acf":{"top_article":false},"yoast_head":"\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nA roadmap is one thing. But what is tech\u00adni\u00adcally feasi\u00adble right now?<\/h5>\n
The acqui\u00adsi\u00adtion of Perox\u00ady\u00adChem has now massively increased CO2<\/sub> emis\u00adsions. Never\u00adthe\u00adless, Evonik Active Oxygens will help the Group achieve its climate targets in the future. How does that work?<\/h5>\n
Mega\u00adtrends are a world\u00adwide phenom\u00ade\u00adnon. Does that also apply to sustainability?<\/h5>\n
How impor\u00adtant is it to form strate\u00adgic alliances with part\u00adners in order to main\u00adtain this speed?<\/h5>\n
Sustain\u00adabil\u00adity has three dimen\u00adsions: envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal, economic and social. How does that tally with economic sustain\u00adabil\u00adity, if massive invest\u00adments have to be made to take account of the envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtal dimension?<\/h5>\n
What role do your employ\u00adees play in the objec\u00adtive of becom\u00ading more sustain\u00adable as a company?<\/h5>\n
Now some people say chem\u00adistry and sustain\u00adabil\u00adity aren\u2019t really compatible \u2026<\/h5>\n
The big-picture objec\u00adtive is one thing, but what about tangi\u00adble measures on the ground? For exam\u00adple, doing away with dispos\u00adable cups \u2026<\/h5>\n
Are you your\u00adself a role model cham\u00adpi\u00adoning more sustain\u00adabil\u00adity? What are you doing?<\/h5>\n
It\u2019s clear how close to your heart this topic is. Why is sustain\u00adabil\u00adity a concern for you personally?<\/h5>\n