Unprecedented in scope and timeframe.

Bosch is set to be fully climate-neutral as early as next year, when 400 of the company’s locations worldwide will no longer leave a carbon footprint. It makes Bosch the first major industrial enterprise to achieve this ambitious goal in a little over a year.

“We see climate action as our responsibility and believe we have to act now,” Robert Bosch GmbH chairman, Dr Volkmar Denner said. In a bid to swiftly achieve carbon neutrality, Bosch will buy more green electricity in the near term and compensate for unavoidable CO 2 emissions with carbon offsets. In the years to 2030, the company will gradually increase the share of renewable energy in the power that it generates and buys, and will invest a billion euros to boost its locations’ energy efficiency.

Once Bosch achieves climate neutrality, it will no longer adversely affect carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere.

Starting in 2020, Bosch will compensate for any residual and unavoidable carbon emissions primarily by buying green power from legacy plants and taking part in carbon offset programs. The company is investing in environmental projects, certified to rigorous standards, aimed at supporting social and ecological development. Carbon offsets are to be gradually scaled back by 2030, and Bosch is stepping up investments in renewable energies to this end.

By 2030, the company plans to save additional energy amounting to some 1.7 terawatt hours per year. This is more than one-fifth of its current annual consumption, and comparable to the amount of electricity consumed by private households in Cologne.

Connected manufacturing has also become a key efficiency driver. Bosch has already deployed its proprietary energy platform, a part of the company’s portfolio of Industry 4.0 solutions, to more than 30 factories around the world.