Sustainability
Ten years after the world united under the Paris Agreement (opens in a new window or tab), the anniversary passed without fanfare in 2025. No celebrations – just a sober reminder that progress toward limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (opens in a new window or tab) above pre-industrial levels remains far too slow. Real progress calls for transformation, not talk. tesa’s bold steps in Hamburg point the way toward climate neutral manufacturing by example and prove what’s possible when action meets ambition.
At the heart of this transformation lies our firm belief that tesa’s future is directly connected to the planet’s future. That’s why we are working to decouple growth from emissions and hit our target of climate-neutral production by 2030 – turning responsibility into real progress.
The tesa plant in Hamburg is the largest production plant in the tesa network, producing high-performance adhesive tapes for e.g. the electronics, automotive, printing and paper industries. The plant is very energy-intensive; the necessary process steam and heat requirements are currently met by burning natural gas as an energy source. We want to show how energy-intensive production in the chemical industry can become climate-neutral at minimal spent for energy – that’s why we’re investing in more sustainable and less energy-intensive processes, in state-of-the-art equipment and modern methods to transform our plant in Hamburg - and others worldwide. In doing so, we pave the way for other companies as pioneers.
The transformation concept consists of four pillars:
The first pillar of the transformation sets out to fundamentally increase efficiency and reduce the plant’s primary energy demand – a decisive step toward climate-neutral production. At the Hamburg site, this vision takes shape through the shift to solvent-free adhesive technologies, the installation of heat pumps for building heating, and consequent heat recovery from production processes. By gradually phasing out the combined heat and power unit and significantly expanding on-site generation from solar and wind, the plant is evolving into a beacon of sustainable manufacturing.
In 2025, tesa successfully installed enough solar panels at its Hamburg site to create 2.2 MWp of renewable power. Within the next five years, we will expand our photovoltaics at this facility to add capacity for a further 1.8 MWp of electricity from renewable sources. And we also strive for the installation of a wind-turbine with potential to generate 4 MWp at this location. These measures not only make operations cleaner and more efficient but also serve as a model for how energy-intensive production can successfully transition to a low-carbon future.
At our Hamburg site, we are fundamentally reimagining how energy is produced and used for manufacturing our advanced adhesive tapes. A new power-to-heat unit will generate steam from green electricity. Thanks to an integrated heat storage system, the heat can be temporarily stored and transformed to steam when needed – making the process more flexible and economic than conventional electric boilers.
Green hydrogen is another element of this transformation. Preparations are already well underway for the switch to green hydrogen by 2027. By then, the plant will be connected to the hydrogen backbone in 2027, and an external electrolyzer will generate green hydrogen from renewable electricity~~.~~ This clean energy source will be used to generate steam for our production processes.
To make this shift possible, we are replacing the site’s existing steam boilers with modern dual-burner systems that can operate on hydrogen and, when needed, natural gas as a back-up. Together, these innovations pave the way for fossil-free steam and heat generation.
Our sustainable transformation is empowered by the newest digital tech. Artificial intelligence (AI) and other smart tools support tesa teams when managing those challenges and complications. The platform continuously forecasts energy demand, enables us to orchestrate our energy infrastructure on marginal costs, informs our suppliers about changing demands and helps us to gradually switch to renewable energy. Electricity prices spike on cloudy days and plummet when the sun blazes brightly, for example. That volatility creates cost risks but also opportunities especially in energy-intensive sectors like the chemicals industry. Our energy management software decides every 15 minutes which asset can be operated at lowest cost.
(Source: Global Electricity Mid-Year Insights 2025)
By leveraging AI computing power in this way, we are able to use energy and equipment more flexibly in response to real-time data. We can also plan our daily and long-term operations in line with highly accurate predictions from this digital tool. On top of this, the AI platform creates a single source of truth across our global production network. That enables tesa teams worldwide to monitor KPIs for cost efficiency, energy use and emissions reduction more effectively.
Added together, these measures form a pioneering concept that is transforming tesa’s flagship production facility. In 2025, this concept was awarded with the dena Energy Efficiency Award (opens in a new window or tab), which recognizes excellence for climate-neutral production. Overall, the plan aims to unlock a whopping 20,500 tons of CO₂ savings per year. Many aspects of the concept are applicable for implementation at other tesa facilities and by additional companies across industries too. The project is funded by the federal government through a climate protection agreement (BMWE).
By implementing these measures, tesa aims to make a major contribution toward reducing emissions and tackling global warming. Right now, the world is missing the targets set out by the Paris Climate Agreement. That means it’s time for a far-reaching transformation. And at tesa, we’re leading the way forward by revolutionizing our sites to save energy and reduce emissions.
Tackling the global climate crisis and accelerating positive change are central elements of our committment. Our mission to reduce global emissions includes upstream and downstream processes as well as our own production. Green energy is a key pillar of our commitment. Since 2020, we have sourced 100 percent of our purchased electricity from renewable energy sources. In addition to reducing fossil-based energy consumption, increasing energy efficiency also plays an important role. To achieve this goal, we are implementing technologies that are particularly efficient in conserving resources and energy.
