Bosch moves towards carbon neutrality

Consumers and their needs are at the centre of Bosch’s developments. Bosch’s entire range of modern home appliances ranging from cookers, ovens and extractor hoods, dishwashers, washers and dryers, fridges and freezers to small appliances such as vacuum cleaners, coffee machines or food processors, are now being produced in factories where the company is prioritizing efforts to improve the energy efficiency. This is enabling the company to reduce energy consumption and conserve resources. Bosch is also stepping up its investments in new clean power - in renewable in-house generation and in new renewable energy generation plants that are to be built. By 2030, the company targets to achieve a significant increase in the share of energy from renewable energy plants.

 To achieve complete carbon neutrality, Bosch has implemented various Energy Efficiency (EE) reduction projects. An Intelligent Lighting system has been planned on Factory Shop Floor to reduce energy consumption. This aims to cut carbon dioxide emissions throughout the entire product lifecycle – including the procurement of goods and the usage of its sold products. The group has set a target for a 15 per cent reduction by 2030. This would result in Bosch saving 198 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy by improving the energy efficiency at all its locations.

Since 2020, Bosch is working to generate on-site renewable energy with its installed 520 KW Roof Top Solar Panel (PV Module). This corresponds to the output of a photovoltaic system the size of around 300 football fields.

The company has defined four levers for the implementation of its climate goal: to increase energy efficiency; to expand the supply of renewable energy; to purchase more green electricity; and to offset unavoidable CO₂ emissions with carbon credits. Bosch will buy more green electricity in the near term and compensate for unavoidable CO2 emissions with carbon offsets. In the coming years, the company will aim to gradually increase the share of renewable energy in the power that it generates and buys. The annual purchase target has been set to increase up to 100 per cent by 2030. This is spread over 400 locations worldwide, and the engineering, manufacturing, and administrative facilities, will no longer leave a carbon footprint.

Once Bosch achieves climate neutrality, it will no longer adversely affect carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. The company is thus making an important contribution to the Paris climate agreement ratified in 2015, which calls for global warming to be kept well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Bosch’s innovative and super-efficient home appliances will, in particular, enable the group to make a crucial contribution to addressing the future issues of climate protection, energy efficiency and resource conservation.

To achieve its target of carbon neutrality, Bosch India is tapping locally available, natural sources of energy. The company’s Nashik plant began installing its first photovoltaic systems in 2015 and now has 50,000 solar panels in place on roofs, parking lots, and the grounds to generate around 20 per cent of the power required by the plant each year.

The Nashik facility has reduced its carbon emissions by some 23,000 tons and saved around 25,000 megawatt hours of energy since 2015. Bosch experts have also developed an eco-friendly solution for cleaning the modules: water is recycled several times and purified using environmentally sound methods.

The company’s Bidadi plant has also embraced solar power by covering around 30 per cent of its energy needs with a photovoltaic system that also offers a further benefit: it provides ideal conditions for growing vegetables and herbs to keep the plant’s cafeteria well stocked with local produce.

 Now more than 400 Bosch locations worldwide — from development through production to administration — will no longer leave a carbon footprint.

With this experience and industry knowhow, the Bosch team supports consumers on their journey to become a carbon neutral company. And Bosch’s innovative and super-efficient home appliances will, in particular, enable the group to make a crucial contribution to addressing the future issues of climate protection, energy efficiency and resource conservation.