Climate protection

Climate-related opportunities and risks

Climate change has a direct impact on various sectors of the economy, which could have direct and indirect consequences for NORMA Group over a long-term time horizon until 2030.

On one hand, both the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and the adaptation to global warming offer opportunities for NORMA Group. These include, for example, new or growing market segments in the fields of Mobility & New Energy and Water Management, which can have a positive impact on sales development. At the same time, energy savings offer the potential to reduce NORMA Group’s operating costs. Last but not least, NORMA Group can benefit from the increasing relevance of this topic in the financial markets by positioning itself as a sustainable investment and thus reducing capital costs.

Conversely, risks can also result from these developments. For example, the increase in the production of alternative forms of drive leads to a decline in the market for conventional drives, a market in which NORMA Group is also active. Increased pricing of greenhouse gases may result in higher operating costs. On the capital market side, a changed reputation can lead to reluctance on the part of capital market players focused on sustainability and thus to higher capital costs.

NORMA Group counters these opportunities and risks with a clear strategy and active management in the areas of WATER MANAGEMENT, MOBILITY & NEW ENERGY and RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. With regard to the risks related to its own production processes, NORMA Group operates a structured environmental management system at all production sites, with clear targets for reducing greenhouse gases.

Progressive climate change does not only mean risks and opportunities for NORMA Group’s business. NORMA Group’s business activities also contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases. This applies in particular to emissions caused by the production of purchased materials and its own production processes.

Active Management of Mobility & New Energy

NORMA Group is making an active contribution to electromobility by developing new products such as quick connectors and thermal management systems. These solutions optimize the cooling and heating of batteries, as well as the complex power electronics, the drivetrain and other sub systems of electric vehicles. During product development, they are tailored to solve the main challenges faced by customers: weight savings, lack of space and the reduction of pressure drop in coolant systems. Minimized pressure loss ensures optimal performance of the thermal management systems.

In addition to providing solutions to these requirements, NORMA Group also guarantees the highest safety standards by applying its experience from the design of fuel transport systems to the demanding environment of batteries and cooling water.

NORMA Group manages its Mobility & New Energy efforts in a project-based organization including close collaboration between engineering and sales. Additional training serves to drive knowledge and know-how sharing between all internal stakeholders. By doing so, the company has the flexibility to react efficiently on emerging and very dynamic markets and to connect the new challenges to its current product portfolio and customer expertise. To ensure global alignment and steering, all projects are coordinated and supported by the Electromobility Global Product Management team.

Production-related emissions (Scope 1 and 2)

NORMA Group is currently concentrating on the collection and management of its greenhouse gas emissions from gas and LPG consumption (Scope 1), as well as from purchased electricity and district heating (Scope 2) at its production sites. Administration buildings and distribution centers are excluded from the Scopes. Greenhouse gas emissions from electricity consumption are calculated using a combination of location-based and market-based methods: NORMA Group uses emission factors from energy suppliers where these specific factors are available (market-based). This will be the case at 14 locations in the fiscal year 2023. If this is not the case, NORMA Group uses country emission factors provided by the International Energy Agency (location-based). Values on emissions calculated according the location-based methodology can be found under CR PERFORMANCE INDICATORS. The Scope 3 categories will be quantified in the fiscal year 2024 as part of the “Corporate Carbon Footprint” project.

In 2023, Scope 1 emissions amounted to 4,837 tons of CO₂ equivalents (2022: 4,645 tons), while Scope 2 emissions were 227 tons, market-based, of CO₂ equivalents (2022: 234 tons, market-based). Overall, emissions from Scope 1 and 2 were thus 5,064 tons of CO₂ equivalents (market-based and only NORMA Group production sites), 3.8% above the previous year’s figure (2022: 4,879 tons, market-based and only NORMA Group production sites). Since January 2022, NORMA Group has purchased electricity from renewable energies at all production sites. NORMA Group purchases “Energy Attribute Certificates” for this purpose. For each megawatt hour consumed at each production site, a certificate is available which proves that the electricity was obtained from renewable energies. The certificates meet all the requirements of the GHG PROTOCOL.

The corresponding energy consumption of gas, electricity, LPG, solar panels, and district heating (combined) was 126,070 megawatt hours or 102.3 kilowatt hours per EUR thousand of revenue (2022: 101.8 kilowatt hours per EUR thousand of revenue). Specific energy consumption therefore rose by 0.6% compared to the previous year.

1_The CO₂ emissions for the target value are reported in accordance with the GHG Protocol (market-based, Scope 1 and Scope 2). Scope 1 only includes emissions from natural gas and liquid gas and Scope 2 emissions from purchased electricity and district heating. When recording emissions, only emissions relating to the production sites are taken into account. Since January 2022, NORMA Group has purchased electricity from renewable energy sources at all production sites. NORMA Group purchases "Energy Attribute Certificates" for this purpose. These are also included in the target value.

2_Estimation of emissions from Kimplas Piping Systems and Statek Stanzereitechnik, which were only integrated into environmental reporting in 2020. Values without adjustment: 2017: 52.145 t; 2018: 51,018 t; 2019: 51,374 t. For calculation see GHG Protocol, chapter 5.

1_In 2020, the acquired entities Kimplas Piping Systems Ltd. and Statek Stanzereitechnik GmbH were integrated into NORMA Group’s environmental reporting. In order to ensure comparability with previous years, historic energy consumption data was updated back to the time of acquisition in 2018. Detailed information may be found in the data chapter on page 102.

2_Total energy consumption in 2023 also includes the energy consumption of solar energy and liquified gas in addition to the last few years.

Target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Climate-relevant carbon emissions are a significant non-financial performance indicator for NORMA Group. For Scope 1 and 2 emissions, NORMA Group has set itself an absolute reduction target. NORMA Group aims to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by at least around 19.5% compared to 2017 by 20245. In setting its climate target, NORMA Group followed the recommendations of the  SCIENCE-BASED TARGETS INITIATIVE (Science-based target setting tool 1.1, Absolute Contraction Approach). The target does not consider emissions resulting from growth by acquisitions and forms part of the NORMA Group Management Board’s remuneration components. REMUNERATION REPORT

In order to achieve this goal, NORMA Group manages the energy consumption of all production sites and is integrating the energy reduction targets into its ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS. At NORMA Group, the individual plant management is responsible for the concrete measures taken to reduce energy consumption and thus greenhouse gas emissions. For example, solar panels were installed in China to reduce energy consumption and Group-wide ESG software has been introduced for general energy consumption management, which each site needs to use to report and check its energy data on a monthly basis. This means that local and regional energy consumption is monitored on a monthly basis.

5 The target includes Scope 1 emissions from natural gas and LPG and Scope 2 emissions from purchased electricity and district heating (market-based) of all production sites. Energy Attribute Certificates are also included in the target value.