Klöckner & Co wins award in the Climate Transformation category
Jury recognizes categorization of CO2-reduced steel as fundamental basis for industry transformation
Klöckner & Co came top among over 1,000 participating companies and 11 finalists
Duisburg, Germany, December 5, 2022 – Klöckner & Co has been awarded the German Sustainability Award in the Climate Transformation category. The jury honored the Company’s sustainable transformation and, in particular, the categorization developed by Klöckner & Co for CO2-reduced steel. According to the jury, Klöckner & Co has provided a fundamental basis for the transformation of the entire industry with the customer-oriented categorization promoting the sale of CO2-reduced material and opening up major opportunities for the future. Following the experts, the approach ensures transparency and comparability along the entire value chain, creating an innovative product portfolio of sustainable, significantly CO2-reduced steel. The award, now in its 15th year, is presented annually to companies that promote sustainability as part of their business model and by doing so contribute effectively to transformation.
Guido Kerkhoff, CEO of Klöckner & Co SE: “With our categorization, we want to accelerate the shift towards more sustainable production methods in our industry. For this purpose, we have brought together all CO2-reduced products and services under the Nexigen® brand. This provides our customers with a transparent and easy way of finding and reliably sourcing CO2-reduced products and services already today. We are delighted that the jury has recognized our comprehensive sustainability efforts with this award. I would like to thank our team, which works tirelessly to make Klöckner & Co the pioneer of a sustainable steel and metals industry.”
The German Sustainability Award is the national award in Germany for exemplary sustainability performance in business, local administration, and research. Award winners are chosen in eight categories from among over 1,000 participating companies. This makes the award the biggest of its kind in Europe. It is presented by the German Sustainability Award Foundation in cooperation with the German government, local authority associations, industry associations, civil society organizations and research institutes. The award for Klöckner & Co was accepted in person by Guido Kerkhoff at the awards ceremony held in Düsseldorf as part of the German Sustainability Congress in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Since steel production accounts for 7% of global anthropogenic carbon emissions, sustainable steel is a key milestone on the path to a carbon-neutral economy. Establishing sustainable business models is therefore a central component of Klöckner & Co’s strategy. With the launch of the Nexigen® brand, the company has focused its integrated range of sustainable products and services and provides transparent CO2-reduced solutions in the categories of materials, processing, logistics and sustainable consulting services. In addition, Klöckner & Co was the first company in the world to have all its net zero carbon targets recognized as science-based targets in the standard validation process in accordance with the latest SBTi standards. With those targets, Klöckner & Co has committed to reducing emissions throughout the entire value chain in accordance with SBTi to net zero by 2050.
