Biodiversity

The United Nations declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity to call attention to the global threat of losing biological diversity of plants and animals. The greatest threats to biodiversity come from the increasing loss of habitat as a consequence of climate change, pollution, resource exploitation, and the spread of invasive species.

While many companies have long been aware of conventional topics of environmental protection and have made them part of their management systems, the issue of biodiversity has not yet received the necessary level of attention, including at ALTANA.
Biodiversity means service diversity

Biodiversity refers to a variety of ecosystems, species, and genes. Natural ecosystems provide so-called system services, which include the supply with drinking water, raw materials, and food, but also regulatory functions such as climate and flood control. Further services include decomposition of toxins, cultural services such as tourism or bionics, and basic services such as soil, water, or biomass. All these services of Nature have an economic benefit of which we are not fully aware. To give an example, the value of insect pollination of agricultural plants in the EU is estimated at € 15 billion a year.

ALTANA uses the “Biodiversity Management Manual” by the Federal German Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Reactor Safety as an indication. It provides many practical examples about the benefit of biodiversity for the industry and suggests hands-on activities for promoting biodiversity.

According to the manual, biodiversity is determined by the following factors and the corresponding areas of action:

  • Habitat change
  • Climate change
  • Invasive species
  • Overuse
  • Emissions / Immissions

The following six action areas affect biodiversity:

1. Site and real estate
A prospering company such as ALTANA needs new buildings, and thus occupies open space with new construction, which in turn reduces habitat. For example, we constructed a new central administration building and finished-products warehouse in Wesel and moved into the new site of ECKART in Zhuhai and the new BYK site in Tongling.
When it comes to new structures, ALTANA builds high. The height of the administrative building is 23 m, while the new warehouse is 36 m tall, which resulted in limited space consumption. In addition, the administrative building was constructed on an almost fully developed area. The parcel now has 40 percent green spaces and we planted 70 new trees. Older structures in Wesel and a production facility (seven floors, 41 m), a parking garage with five levels, and two additions were built as high as possible. The new ECKART site in Zhuhai has reduced the transport volume between Germany and China and the move in Tongling released the corresponding space. ELANTAS Beck India uses its roof area to grow trees and shrubs, which are given to the employees for free. Of course, buildings cause climate-relevant CO2 emissions, but high energy efficiency is a high priority for us in the construction of new buildings (see page 42). ALTANA also donated money toward habitat preservation (Bislich Nature Preserve) and is active in an industry association to promote the restoration of contaminated sites in North-Rhine Westphalia (AAV) (see page 44). The group focuses on restoring industrial locations for further use or replanting.

2. Supply chain, operating and auxiliary materials
Until recently, ECKART produced effect pigments from natural minerals (glimmer), which was surface-mined in India. However, this mining method has a negative impact on biodiversity. ECKART developed alternative effect pigments based on silicates (glass flakes) so that the minerals would no longer be needed.

3. Products
The products of ALTANA impact biodiversity primarily by way of solvent (VOC) emissions. The manual cites the conversion to water-based coatings at a manufacturer of colored pencils as exemplary. We have made a significant contribution in this area by using 25,000 m3 of water instead of organic solvents, advancing the development of water-based coatings as well as additives and pigments for the production of water-based coatings or other low-VOC solutions. Water-based coatings also make an important contribution to climate protection, since VOC affect climate change.

4. Production and processing
The impact of ALTANA primarily consists of spatial needs for production facilities and warehouses (see Item 1), energy consumption, CO2 and VOC emissions as well as dust. We record key data on our energy consumption and CO2 output and have defined specific goals and measures. VOC and dust output are far below the emissions of products during their usage and were further cut back in recent years with new exhaust filtration systems.

5. Transport und Logistik
Ein wesentlicher Einfluss auf die Biodiversität findet über den Transport von Mineralölprodukten und die daraus resultierenden CO2- und Staubemissionen statt. Die Standorte von ALTANA sind weltweit verteilt. Bei eigenen Produkten nutzen wir für Interkontinentaltransporte Schiffe, um Luftfracht möglichst zu vermeiden. Im Inland transportieren wir wegen der geringen Stückgutmengen in der Regel per Lkw. Erste Versuche, Transporte in Deutschland mit der Bahn abzuwickeln, sind allerdings angelaufen. Außerdem haben wir ein Projekt zur Ermittlung und Optimierung der CO2-Emissionen unserer Fertigwarenlogistik in Deutschland begonnen.

6. Personal
Der größte Einfluss auf die Biodiversität entsteht durch den täglichen Berufsverkehr bzw. die Dienstreisen der Belegschaft. Einen Rückgang der Reisetätigkeit, der jedoch nicht gemessen wird, erreichen wir durch Videokonferenzen. Dazu bestehen an allen Standorten die technischen Voraussetzungen. ALTANA fördert die Nutzung von energieeffizienten Diesel-Pkw (mit Partikelfilter) als Dienstwagen. Sogenannte SUV sind als Dienstwagen nicht erlaubt