On February 13, ISG members had an opportunity to hear a very enlightening lecture by Bruno Vermoesen. Bruno is an engineer who works for BSH Home appliances. BSH is part of Germany’s Bosch Group with headquarters in Stuttgart.
The parent company Bosch was created in 1886 and now is a major manufacturer of consumer goods with over 300,000 employees and annual sales of 51 billion euros. The company has factories in 60 countries and its products are sold in 150 countries. This makes Bosch a leading global producer of home appliances. Bosch began by making parts for cars. In 1925 they installed their first conveyor belt. From 1929 the company changed its mission and began producing consumer goods. For 20 years, Bruno Vermoesen was the President of BHS's Take Back System dealing with recycling.
Consumer goods are used daily, and the subject of this lecture concerns us all, so the audience was attentive to the ideas set out by the speaker. He presented the issues which the company pays attention to which are sustainability and the economic and social environment. (Economic meaning supporting long term economic growth without damaging the environment.)
BHS concentrates on three goals: decent work conditions, responsible consumption and production, and climate action. Putting 60 million of their products on the market annually, gives the company a sense of responsibility.
The speaker made a circle on the screen, indicating three points at the circumference: planet, people, property. He said: “We save natural resources, or we study the impact of our productivity. We are focusing on the resources. We avoid harmful substances. We use the same standards in every country of the world and adhere to the same safety requirements. We want to achieve zero accidents in our factories. We use the same products.” He indicated four issues which are involved in a clean work environment. The main thing is CO2 and how to cut it or getto lower levels. In 2020 the company realized the goal of being CO2 neutral. They distributed the sources of CO2 by scopes ranking from one to four.
Scope 1 Burning fossils leads to direct carbon emission.
Scope 2 Indirect carbon emission like using electricity. BHS have reduced emissions by using several methods, such as installing special bulbs, generating their own green energy by installing solar panels on the roofs of their buildings.
Scope 3 They purchase green energy.
Scope 4 If BSH produces CO2, it is compensated for by different methods like planting trees. If they nevertheless produce CO2, they try to compensate for it by different methods like planting trees. The company hopes that by 2030 it will be able to cut 15% of CO2 in their products.
