tesa publishes Sustainability Report 2020 and appoints Chief Sustainability Officer



With this year's Sustainability Report, tesa SE presents its agenda for greater sustainability. The company considers sustainable action, production and management an essential aspect of its strategic perspective and has once again increased its efforts accordingly. Last year, the technology company, which is active in 100 countries, hailed 'sustainable growth' as a key component of its corporate strategy. The core element is the new 'Sustainability Agenda'. It serves as a blueprint to align the tesa business responsibly as well as holistically along the entire value chain. Subdivided into the areas Environment, Customers, and Society, the agenda contains specific goals and measures that are clearly explained in the 48-page Sustainability Report 2020.
 
Climate neutrality by 2050
"We've come a good step closer to our goal of operating climate-neutrally by 2050: Between 2018 and 2020, we managed to reduce our energy-related CO₂ emissions by 23%," explains Dr. Norman Goldberg. Since the end of 2020, all tesa offices and production locations worldwide receive 100% of their electricity from renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind energy or hydropower. Moreover, in 2020 we joined the initiative 'Business Ambition for 1.5° C'," says the tesa CEO. With it, the multinational company commits to align its business activities with limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5° C and implementing suitable measures for this purpose. Only approx. 400 leading corporations worldwide have committed to this agreement. 
 
An example of an innovative adhesive solution that helps tesa customers in the electronics industry to be more environmentally conscious are the tesa® Bond & Detach products. Thanks to these tapes, different smartphone components, such as the battery, can be firmly bonded – and then removed without residue for repair purposes or at the end of the device's service life. This simplifies recycling and saves resources. Over the past few years, more than 1.5 billion smartphones worldwide have already been equipped with tesa® Bond & Detach.
 
Dr. Stefan Röber is the new Chief Sustainability Officer
"Our current portfolio is quite impressive. At the moment, we have almost 50 active projects which explicitly support sustainable action in product and technology development: two thirds at product level and one third at technology level. The spectrum ranges from tapes with adhesives made from bio-based monomers for smartphones to adhesive packaging tapes that can simply be disposed in the compost after use," says Dr. Stefan Röber, Head of tesa Product and Technology Development for 14 years. As of April 1, 2021, the Doctor of Physics will also take on the newly created position of Chief Sustainability Officer.
 
"The different facets of sustainability will become increasingly relevant and turn into an even more significant competitive factor," says Dr. Norman Goldberg. "We are therefore very pleased that Dr. Stefan Röber and his 500-strong international team of experienced product developers and engineers will drive the topic forward. Especially since there are great synergies between sustainability and product and technology development."
 
5 million Euro for Covid-19 projects
A separate chapter in the tesa Sustainability Report is dedicated to the Corona pandemic. As early as spring 2020, the company decided to make 5 million Euro available to alleviate the need where it is greatest. The donations from the tesa Group are connected to the aid program of the Beiersdorf Group: 'Care Beyond Skin'. The executive and supervisory boards at tesa have decided to support the global Covid-19 crisis funds run by 'Doctors Without Borders' and 'Save the Children'. Moreover, tesa donates in seven regions to local organizations selected directly by the affiliates – from Asia to North and Latin America as well as Europe. 

About tesa SE

As a multinational company, tesa has been developing innovative adhesive tapes and self-adhesive system solutions for various industries, commercial customers, and end consumers for 125 years. tesa produces already more than 7,000 adhesive solutions that help improve the work, products or lives of our customers. Today, the focus is on sustainability and energy-saving processes. tesa invests in the development of environmentally friendly products and solvent-free manufacture processes as well as in the use of renewable energy sources at its locations. tesa is present in 100 countries and operates plants in Germany, Italy, China, the USA, and soon also in Vietnam. Around three quarters of the tesa sales (2020: EUR 1,325 million) are generated by applications for industries. Together with its clients, tesa develops innovations that are customized at product and process level. Already more than 130 tesa tapes may be installed in an electric car and over 70 in a smartphone. In the printing and construction industries, too, tesa is constantly penetrating new segments with its special adhesive tapes. The company generates almost one quarter of its sales with products for end consumers and professional craftsmen. 300 applications, such as the tesafilm®, make life easier or, when it comes to insect protection, even make it a bit more pleasant. tesa is one of the world's leading manufacturers of adhesive solutions. Since 2001, tesa SE is an 100% affiliate of Beiersdorf AG (i.e., NIVEA) with around 4,800 employees today.

Find out more about tesa Product and Technology Development: 

www.tesa.com/de-de/ueber-uns/product-and-technology-development

 

Everything you need to know about sustainability at tesa:

www.tesa.com/de-de/ueber-uns/sustainability

Press Downloads

Here you can add all documents and media files to the download cart at once.