Green Energy Transitioning in China and Hong Kong for global leader in the precious metals business
Supporting: Heraeus Precious Metals
The Company
Heraeus Precious Metals is globally leading in the precious metals industry. By combining trading, innovative products and recycling, they offer their customers the industry’s most comprehensive array of services for the entire precious metals lifecycle.
They are one of the world’s largest refiners of precious metals and a leading name in industrial precious metals trading. Thier products are used in a wide variety of industries, including the automotive, chemicals, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, hydrogen and jewelry industry.
The Challenge
Heraeus Precious Metals has set itself ambitious sustainability goals: By 2025, the precious metals division of the Heraeus Group strives to become carbon-neutral and from 2033 to completely dispense with the use of fossil fuels. One of the levers to achieve these targets is through a transition to green energy. Heraeus Precious Metals has committed to transition to 100% green electricity by 2025. striving for local solutions, ideally ones that add new green energy to the grid. On top of the self-generation of green electricity on-site, the purchase of electricity from green sources via credible procurement methods plays an essential role.
Heraeus Precious Metals in China and Hong Kong is committed to the green energy transition across its operations. The company had gathered offers for potential solutions to source green energy. It now needed to ensure these solutions were feasible, credible, and compliant with both internal and external sustainability criteria.
Our Expertise
Leveraging our presence in China and Hong Kong, act renewable combines focused understanding of the local renewable energy markets, with our experience in guiding corporates in sourcing credible long-term renewable energy solutions. act renewable worked with Heraeus Precious Metals to undertake a technical, financial, commercial, legislative and compliance review of the offers received, including an evaluation and outlook of China’s Green Electricity Trading program and Green Electricity Certificates (GEC) scheme in Nanjing & Shanghai. Additionally, we provided an indication of the steps and costs required to undertake implementation of alternative options as a comparison.
“We have committed to an ambitious goal: being CO2 neutral by 2025. However, setting a goal is not enough. Sustainability is a true transformation project and needs to underlie everything we do. It leads us to rethink processes and entire business cases.”
Key Outcomes
Heraeus Precious Metals was able to confirm that its chosen renewable energy solutions aligned with requirements set out by CDP, RE100 and the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to ensure credible renewable energy procurement; a key priority for the sustainability-focused business. A clear understanding of possible procurement options such as the Green Electricity Trading program and GEC schemes offered in China allowed the company to make a fully informed decision on the offers proposed versus potential alternatives, to ensure optimal pathway aligned with its business goals. The outcome of the project has enabled Heraeus Precious Metals to form a location-specific procurement strategy and move forward in its journey of transitioning to green energy in China and Hong Kong.
Further details of Heraeus Precious Metals’ transition to green energy can be found here: https://www.heraeus.com/en/hpm/responsibility/climate/Klima.html