GFs' Sustainability Commitment

GF plastic pipe systems are particularly resource efficient. The raw materials used belong to the family of plastics called "thermoplastics". Not only can they be recycled but also have a low unit weight and excellent life-span (>25 years).

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Sustainability

Sustainability creates added value for people, for the environment and for the company. As a global company, we have a special responsibility. We are facing up to the challenges of tomorrow in our daily actions. For us the welfare of our employees, the development of environmentally friendly products, resource conservation and sustainable processes are part of our corporate approach and more than goals.

GF offers a range of system solutions specifically developed for individual applications in Data Centers. All GF systems can reduce the carbon footprint of the cooling plant in your Data Center. Plastic pipe systems have an expected design life-span of >25 years. This is far longer than can be expected from metallic systems where corrosion, both external and internal, as well encrustation of the internal pipe bore (calcium build-up) both effect negatively the life-span of metal pipes.
Another major sustainability benefit of plastic pipe is its low unit weight. 1m of DN100 PE-100 plastic pipe weighs 3.2 kg, compared to carbon steel at 16.1 kg/m. This results in a far lower carbon footprint for plastics during production and transport compared to metals.

Maximum Service Life

The durability of our corrosion-free pipe systems supports the economical use of energy and raw materials. Design life-spans are more than 25 years. For mission critical facilities this life-span has excellent benefits for the cradle to grave carbon footprint of the cooling plant.

High Energy Efficiency

Pre-insulated systems are, on average, 25 percent more energy efficient than post-insulated metal systems. This helps reduces the energy consumption of the cooling plant and helps to achieve environmental certifications such as DGNB, BREEAM, and LEED.

Minimal Logistics

Decentralized production across 34 locations in America, Asia, and Europe reduces transport to the bare minimum. Our lightweight systems allow for the reduction of heavy transport equipment for delivery and on the construction site.

Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions

The production, transport, and disposal of our systems have a significantly better overall carbon footprint than metal systems. Cradle to grave (LCA) evaluations show that engineered plastics reduce GWP compared to metal systems, thanks to their life-span and low weight.

Recycling

Recycling : our modular systems, some also with detachable plug or screw connections, enable the reuse of components. Thermoplastics can also be recycled at the end of its service life.

Environmental management

Our production companies are certified according to the ISO 14001 environmental management system. New or acquired companies are certified within 3 years. At present, approx. 90% of the production sites have been certified.

Georg Fischer is extraordinarily sustainable

The Wall Street Journal has listed GF AG as one of the Top 10 most sustainably managed companies of the world.

Sustainable business is responsible business: GF was ranked in the Top-10 of The Wall Street Journal's list of the 100 most sustainably managed companies in the world. The rating is based on sustainable aspects such as business model and innovation, social and human capital, and the environment.

The successful rating on rank number nine reflects GF's efforts to meet its Sustainability Targets 2020. This underlines the "annual health review" in the GF Sustainability Report 2019. In the past year, GF therefore again made significant progress. The three GF Divisions GF Piping Systems, GF Casting Solutions and GF Machining Solutions, for example, for the first time generated more than half of its sales with products and solutions that offer customers social and environmental benefits. Compared to 2018, this is an increase of 7 percent to 54 percent in total.

GF Piping Systems ensures safe and hygienic distribution of drinking water as well as safe distribution of gas and chemicals.
GF Casting Solutions produces light metal components, including components for electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles that help to reduce the weight and CO₂ footprint of their products, especially of vehicles and aircraft.
GF Machining Solutions offers machines that enable customers to manufacture their products more energy-efficiently.

GF improves in CDP climate rating

GF reports on an annual basis to CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) – an external organization, which runs the global disclosure system for companies, states, regions and cities to report on how they manage their environmental impacts. This includes, for example, the information on the energy consumption of and actions taken by the companies to reduce their CO2 footprint. Based on industry sector-specific disclosure (e.g. engineering industry), CDP also collects detailed information on the companies' management of water as well as their actions to preserve the world's forests.

Improvement by two ranks

In the 2019 reporting cycle (based on the information covering activities from full-year 2018), GF was recognized for our improved disclosure and actions on the topic of Climate with a B-rating (Management level). As a result, GF ranked better than the European regional average and on the same level as the Powered Machinery sector average. Compared to the previous year, this was an improvement by two ranks. In the Water Security questionnaire, GF improved by one rank from B- to B.

How is GF optimizing its footprint?

Environmental management forms a core part of GF's sustainability program. As such, all GF production sites have dedicated targets and continuously work on putting in place measures to optimize GF's ecological footprint. Overall, in 2018, the achieved savings by the measures implemented at all GF locations around the world were equivalent to 1'200 tonnes CO2e.

Discover more detailed information about activities of GF in the area of environmental management in the GF Sustainability Reports. The upcoming report will be published in the summer 2020.