Knorr-Bremse, the global market leader for braking systems and a leading supplier of other systems for rail and commercial vehicles, has been awarded an “A-” rating for its climate protection measures by global not-for-profit environmental organization CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project). This puts Knorr-Bremse at CDP’s Leadership level, ranking among the top 13 percent of its peer group.

“We are very proud that CDP has ranked us at Leadership level in the field of climate protection and awarded us an ‘A-’ rating,” said Frank Markus Weber, CFO Knorr-Bremse AG. “Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of our time. That’s why, several years ago, we committed to playing our part in improving climate protection. At the beginning of last year we further underpinned our commitment by signing off a revised Climate Strategy. The outstanding rating from CDP endorses the transparency and achievements of our climate protection measures.”

The most recent CDP rating for Knorr-Bremse included Leadership level ranking in the fields of Governance, Emission Reduction Initiatives and Business Strategy & Financial Planning. The CDP score also reveals that Knorr-Bremse has further potential in terms of climate protection transparency, particularly relating to the publication of emissions figures for the upstream and downstream supply chain (Scope 3). This is an area in which Knorr-Bremse will continue to develop and introduce new measures going forward.

Every year, CDP evaluates the transparency of companies and cities around the world in relation to climate change, forests and water security, from an investor’s viewpoint. In 2020, more than 9,600 companies reported their data to CDP, which ranks participating organizations from ‘A’ (top rating) to ‘D-’. Companies that fail to provide information or provide only insufficient data are rated ‘F’.

In the context of its Climate Strategy 2030, Knorr-Bremse has set itself the goal of halving the Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO2 emissions at its sites by 2030. In concrete terms, this will mean reducing the CO2 emissions from the energy consumed by the company’s manufacturing sites worldwide and from the Knorr-Bremse vehicle fleet by 50.4 percent by 2030. This equates to an average reduction in CO2 emissions of 4.2 percent per year, compared to 2018 levels. These targets take their lead from the Science Based Targets initiative of the WWF and the Paris Agreement on climate change. In addition, from 2021, Knorr-Bremse will compensate for remaining emissions through carbon offsetting, in order to achieve carbon neutrality.

Further information on Knorr-Bremse’s climate protection activities can be found in the company’s 2019 Sustainability Report on pages 53-57: https://www.knorr-bremse.com/media/6000_medien/6400_publikationen/sustainability_report_2019-2.pdf