Aixtron attains climate-neutral status

Deposition equipment maker Aixtron SE of Herzogenrath, near Aachen, Germany says that, through targeted measures, it has attained the status of a climate-neutral company. Additional steps, in particular to further reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, will follow in the coming years.

Aixtron says that its technologies and the devices made by its customers, especially in the optoelectronics and power electronics industries, have long enabled it to improve energy efficiency worldwide and to assume an active role in reducing global CO2 emissions.

Since 2014, Aixtron has had an ISO 50001-certified energy management system in place to improve energy efficiency. Since 2015, its headquarters in Herzogenrath alone has been able to reduce CO2 emissions in relation to revenue by almost half. In 2017, Aixtron received the dena (German Energy Agency) Energy Efficiency Award for its energy management system.

To further reduce CO2 emissions, the firm has this year also used renewable energy sources to generate all of its electricity. It offsets unavoidable CO2 emissions from business travel, company vehicles and building heating by supporting certified climate protection projects in South America and Africa.

Specifically, the sustainable forestry project in the Madre de Dios region of Peru works with local residents to implement measures and initiatives for the sustainable use of the Amazon forest and provide alternative sources of income for the local population. Another project in Uganda aims to distribute energy-efficient cooking stoves in private households. The improved stoves help the families to save up to 50% fuel and thus reduce the contaminants in the air they breathe in their kitchens and living rooms.

“By supporting these two projects, we are saving exactly the same amount of CO2 that is unavoidably emitted in our business activities,” says president Dr Felix Grawert. “Both projects are certified to the highest standards and meet demanding, internationally recognized standards.”

The emission savings achieved are regularly reviewed and confirmed by independent experts. In addition, the projects are said to bring further benefits to people and the local environment, for example by creating jobs and helping to protect valuable ecosystems.

Aixtron works with the ‘Clean Development Mechanism’, a uniform procedure for CO2 offsetting created under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in connection with the Kyoto Protocol in 2007 and now recognized worldwide. Offsetting emissions this way can complement measures taken to reduce avoidable greenhouse-gas emissions and make a contribution towards achieving the targets set out in the Paris Climate Protection Agreement.

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Aixtron receives German Energy Agency’s Energy Efficiency Award 2017

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