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Wieland, the copper and copper alloy specialist headquartered in Ulm, Germany, says it is aware of the impact it has on the environment and has implemented targeted measures for climate protection that recently have been recognized by the London-based nonprofit Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). The company has received a B score in the area of Climate Change, putting Wieland in the top 36 percent of international companies within metal products manufacturing. Only 11 percent have achieved the top score of A, the company adds.
"All climate protection measures are firmly integrated into our business strategy," says Erwin Mayr, CEO of Wieland Group. "However, we not only strive to reduce our emissions. We are also working consistently towards achieving net-zero emissions by 2045."
The company says its CDP rating shows that it already is playing a leading role within the industry in the fight against climate change. The expansion of recycling activities in North America and Europe as well as Wieland’s own initiatives to use renewable energies illustrate its ambitions for sustainable action.
Wieland North America, the North American division of Wieland Group, has invested $100 million in a new copper alloy recycling and refining facility in Shelbyville, Kentucky, that will serve as a hub for closed-loop recycling and as a refining center of third-party scrap and is expected to being operations this year.
The company also acquired Totall Metal Recycling, Granite City, Illinois, which processes a wide range of metal scrap and other recyclables, in 2022. Totall was formed in 1993 to provide toll processing of scrap wire. Today, the company purchases and recycles copper scrap, electronic scrap, lead, tin, zinc, aluminum, nickel, cobalt, titanium, residues and other recyclables, processing approximately 100,000 tons of scrap per year.
The company says consumers who attach increasing importance to transparency in climate protection measures and sustainability ratings are interested in the annual CDP rankings. The rankings also are relevant to professional investors who use the environmental organization's data to evaluate listed companies with regard to climate protection, water safety and forest use.
Once a year, CDP uses standardized questionnaires to collect data and information on CO2 emissions and climate risks as well as reduction targets and strategies from companies around the world on a voluntary basis. This has resulted in what is now the world's largest database of its kind. Participants answer approximately 120 complex questions in the categories of strategy and targets, risk management processes, corporate governance, initiatives to reduce emissions, commitment in the value chain, risks and opportunities and energy, as well as financial planning and analysis of scenarios, Wieland says. The company adds that it was able to set itself apart from the industry average in the first four categories in particular, receiving the highest possible rating.
"We are already on the right track,” Mayr says. “The validation of our decarbonization targets for 2030 by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) in September 2022 showed that they are in line with the 1.5-degree target set by the Paris Agreement. Our ambitious goal is to continue to improve and achieve an A rating in the CDP ranking in the medium term."
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