Henkel releases digital tool for end-to-end product transparency

Henkel Adhesive Technologies (Düsseldorf, Germany), developing adhesives, sealants and functional coatings for a variety of markets including aerospace and automotive, has developed and implemented a digital solution in collaboration with Henkel’s digital department and business management consultant Capgemini to provide full transparency on the sustainability impacts of individual products in the cradle-to-gate and use phases.

Th novel measurement platform — the Henkel Environmental Assessment Reporting Tool (HEART) — enables the automatic calculation of the product carbon footprint of about 58,000 of Henkel’s products. The tool maps the cradle-to-gate emissions including the emissions of raw materials, production, packaging and logistics. This calculation methodology has been thoroughly verified and certified by TÜV Rheinland. 

This so-called end-to-end transparency, which is based on reliable data and a consistent measurement methodology according to leading international standards, is essential to improve Henkel’s footprint as well as the footprint of its customers. 

“Our certified calculation methodology combines high-quality data with a novel digital measurement platform and enables us to quickly provide comprehensive PCF [product carbon footprint] reports across a significant and continuously increasing percentage of our products,” says Ulla Hüppe, vice president sustainability at Henkel Adhesive Technologies. “Our customers now receive full transparency on the individual cradle-to-gate sustainability impact of the vast majority of our portfolio which is essential for them to better understand the impact of their products and to further reduce their emissions. The novel HEART tool marks another important milestone toward our promise to deliver 100% end-to-end transparency on all our products by 2030. It also helps us to analyze and steer our portfolio based on data-driven results and to further expand our low-emission products portfolio in the future.”

Henkel is participating in different industrial sustainability initiatives to pioneer and collaborate in transparency for end-to-end product life cycle analysis and PCF reporting. The company is a member of “Together for Sustainability,” an initiative that supports and coordinates the measurement of the sustainability performance of chemical companies and their suppliers. Henkel also has joined Catena-X, a pan-European network that aims to standardize the methodology for calculating footprints and the associated data exchange for all participants in the automotive value chain.