Sustainability Impact & Initiatives
Sustainability is the megatrend of our time. As a result, we are experiencing an overwhelming rush of corporations and governments declaring their intentions to become carbon-neutral, and we are hearing a unified voice of the youth of our planet, championing urgent action on climate change. There is a genuine, collective movement that believes that taking action is a global imperative, and this new movement unites us all with a goal for positive change as citizens, businesses, and world leaders.
Due to the dynamic force of governmental push and consumer pull, all businesses and industries are exposed and must respond to the new requirements of a Sustainable Global Economy. Broader macro goals need to be translated into specific action plans for which business and government leaders will be held accountable as they work toward clear, well-defined sustainability objectives over the coming years. These challenges are compounded by a rapidly evolving and complex operating environment that varies by region and industry.
Research & Consulting Services
Kline provides a diverse selection of products and services to help our clients navigate through challenging times. We support our clients with in-depth B2B market intelligence reports, as well as expert consulting services focused on the niche market segments that we serve. Our portfolio of offerings assists our clients in measuring, monitoring, and forecasting sustainability impact and trends. From the hydrogen economy to sustainable beauty, we provide timely research and impact assessment on products, competition, and technology. We work closely with our chemicals, energy, and consumer clients to help them achieve their sustainability goals and ambitions.
Reports
Management Consulting
Industry Specific Solutions & Insights
Sustainability creates unique challenges and opportunities for each industry. While industrial markets are inherently the most visible as legacy contributors to environmental issues, they are also among the most celebrated due to much heralded solutions such as electronic vehicles. Consumer markets have evolved from green and natural products to clean products that are safe for people and the planet and are produced in a sustainable manner.
Chemicals (Specialty Chemicals)
While sustainability actions have been prevalent in the chemicals industry for many years (for example, the Responsible Care Initiative since 1985), there has been an increasing momentum toward carbon-neutral initiatives and accountability. The chemicals industry has been at the forefront of developing innovative products and technologies to enable the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Energy (Lubricants & Specialties)
The energy industry is at the heart of transformation needed to achieve sustainability goals. Many energy companies have set ambitious plans to transform their businesses and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. This will pose new challenges, as well as unanticipated and new opportunities. Kline continuously monitors this space and develops new insights to support the industry in this transformation.
Consumer Goods (Beauty; Professional Beauty)
The beauty industry plays its part to ensure a sustainable future, with major brands integrating sustainability into their business models by taking actions on greenhouses gases, carbon neutrality, and plastic — and even socially regarding living wages. Targets are ambitious, involving all players in the beauty and personal care industry, from ingredient sourcing, formulations, and novel packaging to production and distribution practices and recycling solutions. This poses new challenges, as well as unanticipated and new opportunities. Kline continuously monitors this space and develops insights to support the industry in this transformation.
Corporate Sustainability
Reducing Our Carbon Footprint
We, as a company and as citizens of Earth, embrace our role and responsibility to be active participants in positively impacting the health and welfare of the planet and its people. As a company, Kline is on the path to being carbon-neutral/net-zero. To this end, we engaged Fokus Zukunft, an industry-independent and external sustainability consultancy, to provide a baseline measure of our carbon footprints and specific recommendations to guide us on our path to net-zero.
Fokus Zukunft evaluated Kline’s global operations in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the most widely used and recognized international standard for accounting for greenhouse gas emissions of companies. We chose 2019 as the base year for evaluation (i.e., to mitigate results bias due to the COVID impact in 2020 and 2021) and covered all Kline global office locations and employees. Kline provided detailed data for each location, including emissions in three categories: 1) heat and fuel consumption; 2) electricity consumption and district heating/cooling/steam; and 3) services and third-party services (e.g., business travel).
How did Kline do? Kline’s greenhouse gas balance totaled 1730 tons of CO2, or 11.5 tons of CO2 per employee. Compared with other companies of similar size, the emission value per employee is in the middle range. No surprise, business travel was the largest contributor to our carbon footprint in 2019, followed by heat consumption and employee commuting.
What reduction targets did Fokus Zukunft suggest? Their recommendations involved Science-Based Targets in line with the 1.5° Celsius target of the Paris climate agreement of 2015. For Kline, this would involve reducing our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 21% from 318 CO2 tons in 2019 to 251 CO2 tons in 2024.
Kline’s Sustainability Task Force, headed by VP Erin Durham, is implementing three initiatives to help all Kline offices and employees reduce our carbon footprints.
Business Travel Policy
Guidelines for choosing teleconference as a preferred option for client meetings; replacing short-distance flights with rail; limiting the number of employees traveling to specific meetings, etc.
Recycling Policy
Office practices to reduce waste by integrating recycling and digitalization processes, eliminating all disposable food and beverage utensils, etc.
Commuting Policy
Office policies offering hybrid and/or remote work, incentives to encourage use of public transport and bicycles for commuting, etc.
Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
As individuals, our local offices encourage and incentivize initiatives that are important to our communities, our employees, and our planet. CSR also extends to our provision of an inclusive work environment and our support of empowerment solutions for all, both inside and outside of the office.
Insights
Our clients in the lubricants, baseoils, and additives value chain require pragmatic and impactful ways to direct their strategies and commercial practices toward achieving the SDGs and carbon impact objectives relative to their industries. The paths that they set today will be of critical importance as regulators, investors, customers, and employees demand transparency, commitment, and a clearly defined, measurable plan of action.
This webinar provides data and insights on the evolution of EVs in key markets, and what impact various EV technologies will have on EV fluid specification and demand. Build your EV Fluids business with more in-depth insights from Kline.
