In the VDW's new podcast "Tech Affair - Industry for Future", experts from business and science are once again talking to each other. This time it's about "Climate-neutral factories: Do they exist? And if so, why?"
Roughly speaking, one third of the world's energy is used to manufacture products. The industry still largely operates within established structures. But there is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to reducing the ecological footprint. And when it comes to new business models - keywords: the 3 Ds and Science Based Target Initiative.
Alix Chambris, Vice President for Sustainability at the medium-sized company Viessmann Group, speaking from Brussels, says: "Climate protection and growth are not a contradiction in terms. We have reduced our emissions by a third and doubled our turnover in the same period."
Martin Beck, management consultant for energy efficiency/energy systems at ETA-Solutions GmbH in Bensheim, knows: "Energy efficiency measures are always economical in themselves. And implementing cost-effective measures always makes sense for companies."
Christoph Herrmann, Head of the Institute for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (IWF) at TU Braunschweig, states: "The climate targets are ambitious, but they are absolutely realistic."
All three agree on one thing: we can achieve climate neutrality by 2050. This is because the necessary technologies are available and we are already on the right track. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of work to be done, especially in production. And because "good horses only jump as high as they have to", the right political incentives are also urgently needed.
