Our path to becoming climate neutral
In 2021, STRABAG adopted a sustainability strategy with the goal of achieving climate neutrality along the value chain for the entire Group by the year 2040.
STRABAG SE operates primarily in Europe, but also on other continents, and offers services along the entire construction value chain. The impacts of our business activities are therefore many. But we are committed to taking responsibility for these impacts. By taking into account the needs of people, the environment and society in our strategic decisions, we also ensure the long-term continuity of our company.
The climate crisis is one of the most pressing challenges of our time. Not only does the construction industry contribute significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions, it is also responsible for a large volume of waste and has relatively high energy and material requirements. As a leading construction technology group, we take responsibility and create awareness by making an effective contribution to climate protection and combating climate change. For this reason, STRABAG in 2021 adopted a sustainability strategy that sets the goal for the entire Group to become climate neutral along the value chain by 2040. Our own processes will be designed in such a way that they no longer have a negative impact on the climate in their entirety. Our aim is to become climate neutral by 2040 – just like our home market of Austria.
Five subgoals on the way to becoming climate neutral
In recent years, we have developed a robust data basis to measure and manage our CO2e emissions – Initial Scope 1 and Scope 2. The calculation of Scope 3 emissions currently represents a key aspect of this activity. This is a major challenge for a group of our size and high degree of diversification, as it requires compiling, consolidating, evaluating and verifying an immense amount of data from various countries, a multitude of construction sites, different production facilities and our suppliers. This data is necessary to develop pathways for reducing our emissions and to design our own processes in such a way that they do not have a negative impact on the climate in their entirety. We have divided our path to zero emissions into five subgoals:
This subgoal covers all our stationary administrative locations. Main sources of emissions here include working electricity, energy for heating and cooling as well as fuel for the vehicle fleet.
As this target is to be met within the next two years, we are implementing a comprehensive set of measures to achieve climate neutrality in our administration. Corresponding projects were compiled as part of a workshop series to develop roadmaps at the corporate and central division level. A solid data foundation is essential for progress reports on target fulfilment. The findings will be disclosed in the coming reporting year.
The climate-neutral construction project refers to the construction process of structures, i.e., of buildings as well as infrastructure projects. In addition to fuels and electrical energy for the construction site vehicle fleet, construction machinery and equipment, the operating energy consumption of portable container offices is also included.
The high importance of this subgoal is reflected in the fact that building operation is responsible for around 28% of all carbon emissions in the world. We assume responsibility for the buildings we construct and for the emissions they cause during their use. In the future, we resolve as much as possible to hand over buildings to our customers with the option of climate-neutral operation.
This subgoal encompasses all sourced materials for the construction of buildings – materials from our own production facilities as well as those from subcontractors and suppliers. This means that all building materials sourced by us will become climate neutral.
Analogous to the subgoal of climate-neutral building operation by 2035, we have set the same goal for infrastructure for 2040. We want to hand over the infrastructure we have built to our customers in such a way that it can be operated in a climate-neutral manner.
Outlook
In line with our mission to “Work On Progress”, we are publicly committed to our customers, to our employees and to society to become climate neutral along our entire value chain by 2040. Implementing our sustainability strategy requires the support of all corporate and central divisions as well as every single employee.
In addition to numerous successfully implemented projects, we are also working on a corporate-wide roadmap. The actions to effectively decarbonise the entire value chain have been prioritised. STRABAG will regularly inform its stakeholders about progress and goals achieved.