(Photo: Bosch’s research campus in Renningen, Germany. Credit: Bosch)
Global technology and services supplier Bosch says it can become fully carbon neutral as early as next year. For the German company, this covers more than 400 locations worldwide as well as their engineering, manufacturing, and administrative facilities.
In the short-term, Bosch plans to achieve carbon neutrality by purchasing more renewable electricity and compensate for unavoidable carbon dioxide emissions with carbon offsets.
Between now and 2030, the company intends to gradually increase the share of renewables in the power that it generates and purchases while scaling back carbon offsets. In addition, Bosch says it will invest €1 billion ($1.12 billion) in improving corporate locations’ energy efficiency.
The industrial giant wants to expand company-owned photovoltaic systems such as the ones at their Nashik and Bidadi locations in India. “The company expects to achieve a ten-fold increase in installed energy capacity with this move,” Bosch said.
In addition, the company plans on signing long-term, exclusive supplier contracts with new wind and solar farms around the world, which can then operate profitably, even without government subsidies, the announcement said.
Emissions-related Bosch efforts include:
- Lowering energy requirements more than 50% compared with 2007 at Bosch’s Feuerbach plant in Germany.
- Eliminating more than 5,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide in the past two years at the Homburg plant with an energy management platform Bosch developed.
- Green rooftops and 460 photovoltaic modules helped the Renningen research campus reach carbon neutrality in January 2019.
- A biomass heating plant at the Rodez site in France.
- 50,000 solar panels on roofs, parking lots, and the grounds at the Nashik location in India.
- Energy from the Dominica wind farm in San Luis Potosí covers more than 80% of the energy requirements of all Bosch locations in Mexico.
“Carbon neutrality is doable and, if pursued with the necessary determination, can be achieved quickly,” said chief executive Volkmar Denner.
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