Environment

Environmental protection

In our Global Environmental Policy, we commit to using natural resources as efficiently as possible. The policy also includes our commitment to business practices that promote the protection of the environment and the minimization of any adverse environmental impact of our business. We strive for continuous improvement in our environmental performance. Around the globe, we monitor environmental data from our dialysis clinics and production sites.

We commit to become climate neutral for both Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) emissions by 2040. Additionally, we have set an interim target to make sure we stay on track - by 2030 we aim to half Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions compared with reported emission levels in 2020. We are also continuously assessing our emissions across the entire value chain (Scope 3 emissions) to identify further possible reduction targets. Our climate targets are in line with the Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 °C.

Environmental initiatives

To continuously improve our environmental performance, we are involved in local sustainability projects which we report as part of our global Green & Lean initiative.

Green and Lean initiatives enable best practices to be shared between plants with a view to using natural resources efficiently and implementing environmentally sustainable operations.

Green & Lean initiative 2023

All figures are rounded.
Data on total waste is currently not reported on a global level but will be in scope for future reporting.

Reducing environmental impact along the product life cycle

At Fresenius Medical Care, innovations and new technologies help us to reduce our impact on the environment and the use of resources. Most of the water we use is to produce dialysate for life-saving dialysis treatment in our dialysis clinics around the world. The amount of dialysate and consequently the amount of water required per dialysis treatment is determined by a variety of factors including blood flow rate, the selected dialyzer, and the treatment method, most of which are the direct responsibility of the physician. In our efforts to save resources, we continue to prioritize the quality of our care and our products. Our latest dialysis machine generations, the 5008 and 6008 series, are both designed to be more eco-efficient. These machines automatically adjust the dialysate flow to the patient’s blood flow, which allows us to save significant amounts of dialysate, water, and energy while maintaining a consistently high dialysis quality.