"Protecting people and the environment is very important to us. That is why it is also one of our top corporate values," explains CEO Rolf Sonderegger. "With our own project team, we are now bundling our measures and goals in the area of sustainability and consistently driving them forward." Franziska Kunz, Head of the Meerane site since 2011, has also led the sustainability team as the new Sustainability & CSR Manager since April 1, 2022.

One of the biggest tasks is to implement the "Cut the Carbon" project: The company is committed to making all six German production sites completely_CO2-neutral by 2025. Kistler is following the guidelines of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG) for Scopes 1 and 2, i.e. addressing both direct emissions from combustion processes at its own sites and indirect emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heat and cooling. In order to achieve this goal, Kistler wants to make its entire production process emission-free - production at all German sites already runs exclusively on electricity from renewable sources.

At the same time, e-mobility is to be expanded within the company. Charging stations for electric cars are being installed at the headquarters in Winterthur, Switzerland, and at the two German sites in Sindelfingen and Lorch. In addition, the proportion of electric company vehicles is to be gradually increased.

Sustainable management

Furthermore, Kistler's products also ensure sustainable business practices on the customer side, according to the company. For many years, for example, the diagnostics of combustion engines in the automotive sector have led to more efficient engines and thus lower_{CO2 emissions}. In the large engines of ships, on the other hand, sensors from Kistler monitor the pressure in the cylinders in order to reduce fuel and thus also emissions. Similarly, in joining processes, electromechanical joining modules ensure that large amounts of energy can be saved in production compared to pneumatic or pneumohydraulic systems. "In this way, we are making a contribution to global decarbonization and resource efficiency at various levels," explains CEO Rolf Sonderegger.

Franziska Kunz and her team are currently summarizing all goals, measures and results in a sustainability report in order to make them accessible and transparent to the public. "We show that we take our responsibility seriously," says Franziska Kunz. "In doing so, we focus on the social and economic components of sustainability as well as the ecological ones - after all, the task can only be accomplished through cooperation across all areas."