Concrete steps, measurable success: our sustainability year 2024
Lower emissions, more electricity from renewable sources, fewer accidents, and outstanding sustainability ratings: the 2024 Sustainability Report demonstrates Jungheinrich AG’s sustainable progress. Here’s an overview of the key developments.
Sustainability is not a trend for us, but an integral part of our corporate strategy. 2024 was a significant year: with clear goals, concrete measures and a great deal of commitment, we made important progress – on our path to net zero, in climate protection, in the development of sustainable products and along our entire supply chain. In this review, we share what we have achieved – and what we are continuing to work on.
Our path to net zero
Further reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
The goal is clearly defined: by 2030, we aim to achieve carbon-neutral operations (net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in Scopes 1 and 2) across all sites and plants. By 2050 at the latest, our entire value chain (Scopes 1-3) is to be CO₂e-neutral. Encouragingly, we were able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across Scopes 1, 2, and 3 by 5.8% compared to the previous year – down to a total of 2,575.4 thousand tons of CO₂e. We saw particularly significant progress in Scope 2, where emissions dropped by an impressive 15.9% thanks to a higher share of green electricity and improved energy efficiency.
Since the base year 2021, we have achieved an 11% reduction in Scope 1 emissions – a success largely attributable to the continued electrification of our vehicle fleet and the expansion of charging infrastructure. In Germany, for example, nearly a quarter of Jungheinrich’s fleet now operates fully electric. Additionally, 72% are hybrid vehicles, and only 5% still run on diesel.
Renewable sources
More electricity from renewable sources
55 of the 69 Jungheinrich companies with their own sites now use at least some electricity from renewable sources – up from 47 the year before. For the first time, we exceeded the 80% threshold for renewable electricity. After reaching 77% in the previous year, we increased the share to 81% in 2024.
In 2024, we also generated 2,818.6 MWh of energy from renewable sources ourselves – equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of around 800 four-person households or the energy needed to drive approximately 14 million kilometers in an average electric vehicle. To put it another way: that amount of energy could power an electric car around the Earth 350 times or cover the distance from Hamburg to Beijing more than 2,000 times.
Circular economy
Sustainable products and circular economy
The circular economy is gaining importance at Jungheinrich. To ensure long-term viability for ourselves and our customers, it’s crucial to decouple resource consumption from economic growth wherever possible – both through our material handling solutions and within internal processes. In 2024, we took a key step by beginning the development of a group-wide circular economy strategy. One achievement in this area is the significant reduction in landfill waste, which fell by 55.5%, now making up just 3.5% of total waste. This surpasses our 2025 target of 8.5% by a wide margin.
Product carbon footprint
Product carbon footprint increases transparency
A key step towards greater transparency and providing customers with a reliable basis for decision-making was the calculation of the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) for 30 high-revenue product series. The PCF offers detailed information about emissions over the entire product lifecycle – from raw material usage through production, transport, customer use (based on an assumed lifespan of 10,000 operating hours), and end-of-life disposal.
The comparison between lead-acid vehicles and lithium-ion battery vehicles is particularly revealing. The results show that lithium-ion models not only offer benefits like increased availability, opportunity charging, and flexible decentralized charging infrastructure – they also have a proven lower CO₂e footprint, on average about 10% less.
What do Scopes 1, 2, and 3 mean?
Scope 1: Direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by Jungheinrich, such as company vehicles, production facilities, or heating systems.
Scope 2: Indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy (e.g., electricity, heating, or cooling) sourced externally.
Scope 3: All other indirect emissions across the value chain, including those from suppliers, transport, business travel, and even the use of our products by customers.
Social responsibility
Social responsibility and workplace safety
We also achieved notable progress in social sustainability in 2024. The Lost Time Injury Rate (LTIR) – which measures the number of work-related accidents with time lost per million working hours – dropped by 16.8% to 11.4. This means we met our 2025 target of 12.5 a full year ahead of schedule.
Customer safety is just as important to us. The number of assistance displays installed in new industrial trucks more than doubled compared to the previous year (an increase of 103.6%). Our assistance systems provide proactive support and significantly improve safety during daily operations.
Procurement management
More sustainable procurement management
We are continuing to expand our commitment to sustainable procurement practices throughout our supply chain. In 2024, we made further progress: around 1,000 suppliers now undergo mandatory self-assessments (up from 750 in the previous year), and we increased our “sustainable spend” to 78% (up from 75%). This means nearly four-fifths of our relevant purchasing volume is now covered by sustainability assessments.
Reviews
Excellent sustainability rankings
Our sustainability efforts were once again validated by external experts in 2024. We’re especially proud to have received the EcoVadis Platinum certification for the fourth consecutive time, placing us among the top 1% of rated companies. One of the key reasons for these ratings is our ongoing implementation of measures that align with our climate goals validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). These goals ensure that our climate strategy is consistent with the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement.
Succeeding sustainability– together
These encouraging results are the outcome of our collective commitment to sustainability and environmental protection. But pride must not lead to complacency. We continue to pursue improvements across all relevant areas of sustainability, support our customers’ long-term viability with industry-leading sustainable solutions, and drive our internal transformation forward.
Because: We are the key to our customers’ sustainable transformation. Sustainable processes throughout the entire value chain – the full journey from raw material to end customer – are only possible if material handling, the heart of every supply chain, is designed with sustainability in mind. We are the ones shaping that future – and we are well on our way to becoming one of the world’s most sustainable companies. We will continue down this path together.
Among other things, by sourcing electricity exclusively from renewable energy at all global sites by 2030, further electrifying our service fleet, and rigorously implementing our new group-wide circular economy strategy.
You can find more information on Jungheinrich’s sustainable transformation in our official Sustainability Statement.
100 years ago, the Steinbock company was founded in Moosburg. Today, the site is one of the centres for state-of-the-art material handling. A look back.
Find out what measures, some of which save costs, our employees are taking to protect the environment at our site in Kaltenkirchen and make it flourish.
