Arçelik Sustainability Report: Call to Action for a Sustainable Future

In June, Arçelik held an online event to launch its 13th Sustainability Report. Arçelik CEO Hakan Bulgurlu spoke at the event, which was moderated by climate activist Selin Gören, about the dire state of the climate crisis, the steps that need to be taken, and the company's commitment to fight these global issues.

Citing Dr. Jonathan Foley’s “climate chess” analogy, Bulgurlu urged everyone to take responsibility and said, "We need to act together to checkmate. Today, we are not at a point where we can ignore the climate crisis. We have no time to lose, we must plan our moves together with all the players."

Climate activist Selin Gören said: “Since my childhood, what has driven me to become an activist has been the disconnection between people and nature, and the realization that this is the cause of the problem. My goal is to raise awareness on this issue. The main theme of Arçelik's sustainability report this year is "Now Is the Time to Take Action Together". Only by acting together can we repair the damage we have done to the planet.”

Collaboration for A Better Future

The United Nations estimates that 4.7 million hectares of forest are lost every year - an area larger than Denmark. This means that every three seconds, a space the size of a football field vanishes.

The plastic waste crisis, on the other hand, is growing at an exponential rate every year. According to a recent study, single-use plastics will account for nearly 10% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. CO2 levels in the atmosphere have risen to their highest point in 4 million years of human history.

As part of a call for everyone to take joint action for a more sustainable future, Arçelik announced its future goals, which include having net zero carbon emissions across its operations by 2050. Arçelik aims to reduce Scope 1 emissions, which directly represent its carbon footprint, by 15% by 2030 compared to 2018, Scope 2 emissions, which refers to its indirect carbon footprint, by 30%, and Scope 3 emissions, which come from products purchased by its customers, by 15%. These targets have also been approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative.

The Goal: Net Zero Emissions by 2050

Stating that the pandemic revealed it is possible to solve crises only when we act together and that everyone should do more than their part, Hakan Bulgurlu said, “As a major achievement in our sustainability drive, we have become carbon-neutral across our global production operations via carbon credits earned through the Carbon Financing Project. By 2050, our goal is to have achieved net-zero emissions in all our operations and value chain. We recently issued our first corporate green bond. A significant step for the industry, our bond has a nominal value of 350 million Euros and stands out as Turkey’s first-ever corporate green bond issued in international markets. We will use this to improve our sustainability performance and go above and beyond our goals in areas like renewable energy, green building projects, energy efficiency in products and production.”

Arçelik was named the "Industry Leader" in the Durable Home Appliances Category for the second time in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which evaluates the sustainability performance of the world's largest companies.

More Ambitious Goals For 2030

Arçelik has expanded the scope of the "In Touch Technology" framework and set more ambitious 2030 targets in its 2020 Sustainability Report. The following are some of the achievements that stand out from the report:

• Arçelik has zeroed Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions at its global production facilities in 2019 and 2020 with its own carbon credits. Within the scope of the Energy Efficient Refrigerators Carbon Financing Project in Turkey, 305.407 tons of CO2e emission reduction rights were obtained between 2013-2018. The company plans to invest an additional $50 million in the coming period to remain carbon neutral. In this context, it aims to establish a 15 MW renewable energy system for self-consumption in its own production facilities by 2030, and to supply electricity for all production facilities globally from 100% renewable resources.

• Arçelik also succeeded in being included in the Corporate Knights Global 100 list, which lists the world's top 100 companies in the field of sustainability.

• By reducing the energy consumption per product by 46.7% at the production facilities in Turkey, South Africa, Russia, Romania, Thailand and Pakistan, the reduction target of 45%, previously set for 2030, was achieved.

• At the production facilities in Turkey, South Africa, Russia, Romania, Thailand and Pakistan, the water withdrawal per product was reduced by 52% compared to the 2015 level. The previously set 45% reduction target was achieved before 2030.

• By 2030, Arçelik aims to reduce the waste recycling rate by 99% in production facilities across Turkey, South Africa, Russia, Romania, Thailand and Pakistan compared to the base year of 2015. The business also aims to increase the rate of use of recycled plastic to 40% and the rate of biomaterial use to 5%.

• By replacing 1.3 million high energy consumption products collected from the market since 2014 with new energy efficient products, energy savings equivalent to the daily electricity consumption of approximately 41 million households, in other words, the annual energy production of 52 wind turbines with 2.5MW power have been achieved. 6.5 million tons of water savings were achieved.

• In 2020, 8 tons of recycled fishing net waste and 111.7 tons of recycled industrial yarn waste were used in Arçelik oven, washing machine and dishwasher parts.

• 100% recycled and recyclable cardboard was used in the boxes of small home appliances and TV products produced in Turkey.

• With the special formula developed in Arçelik R&D laboratories, so far approximately 58 million recycled PET bottles have been used to produce washing machines and washer-dryer tubs to date. Resulting in, carbon emissions being reduced by 1,675 tons and saving 39,000 GJ of energy by reducing the use of untreated plastic.

• The turnover obtained from the sale of energy efficient products corresponded to 50% of the entire turnover.

• 5,217 tons of CO2 emissions were reduced through energy efficiency projects.

• Nearly 13,000,000 TL savings were achieved through waste reduction and water efficiency projects.