Aiming for CO2 neutrality until 2035

Every year on 22 April, "World Earth Day" commemorates the earth and the environmental impact caused by humanity. This year, on the occasion of this day, JOPP is publishing climate and sustainability targets for its worldwide plants where assemblies for the automotive and supplier industry are developed and manufactured. The Büchs family of shareholders deliberately does not rely on other service providers, but wants to be part of the solution itself. Managing Director Martin Büchs comments in detail: "At JOPP, we leave 85 % of our carbon footprint through our electricity consumption. Despite Corona, this amounted to 20 gigawatt hours last year, half of it in Bad Neustadt. By 2035, we want to reduce the associated carbon dioxide emissions to zero."

The most important thing is to reduce energy and increase energy efficiency. There is still a 10 % savings potential, although the company has been working on these issues for many years and is certified according to the ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 standards. A general decrease in electricity consumption through electromobility is hardly expected, since more than 80 % of the energy-intensive processes in series production are already used for chassis, steering and other industrial products, at least at the Bad Neustadt site.

The generation of renewable energy on site is an essential component for the reduction of CO2 emissions. Only the electricity that cannot be sensibly produced on site is to be purchased from public electricity suppliers. The company is currently in the application phase for a 1.5 MWp photovoltaic system on the roofs of its three sites in Bad Neustadt. According to the company's own research, this would be the largest rooftop installation in the Rhön-Grabfeld district and the company hopes to set an example for other large industrial companies.

Managing Director Martin Büchs continues: "After we have been experimenting with bidirectional charging of electric vehicles for years, we would also have ideal conditions for storing the electricity in times of surplus and using it, for example, at night. Unfortunately, the economic framework conditions for this are not in place. We have a multitude of laws and regulations in Germany, which doesn't necessarily make it easy. Even generating electricity in one plant and consuming it in another is economic nonsense."

Overall, JOPP could double its generation capacity in Bad Neustadt in the next few years, and even more than quadruple it with the other plants. But that would only make sense with storage technologies and in combination with electric mobility, which are expected to make progress in the next few years. However, it is important for the company to take the first big step as quickly as possible, as additional generation capacity would allow it to displace coal-fired power plants from the electricity market and thus achieve real carbon dioxide savings without consuming additional land through free-standing plants on fields. In the long term, JOPP is also interested in sourcing wind power from local production, as it also needs larger amounts of electricity at night.

For the first time, JOPP is offering a short version of its climate report for 2020 on its website for the interested public. It also contains some demands on politicians to improve the framework conditions for achieving climate neutrality.