rethink sustainability
The CLIC® Chronicles: Meet Geberit, the company on a mission to make sanitation sustainable
Founded in Switzerland in 1874, Geberit is the European market leader for sanitary products such as installation, flushing, piping, and bathroom systems.As an engineering-driven company, Geberit uses its technical know-how to drive sustainability in areas including circularity, emissions, and resource conservation. Since 2015, Geberit has managed to reduce its CO2 emissions by 38%, with an 80% decrease targeted by 2035. And, in an unusual further step, the company has tied the remuneration of its employees to the achievement of its annual emissions reductions targets. We spoke with Christian Buhl, Geberit’s CEO, about the company’s sustainability journey.
What does Geberit stand for?
Our systems cover the the entire range of sanitary installation technologies, as well as flushing solutions for WCs. Geberit provides in-building piping technology for drinking water, heating, gas, and other utilities, while our bathroom systems cover equipment such as toilets, sinks, and showers.
With a strong local presence in most European countries, Geberit’s manufacturing capabilities include 26 production plants, four of which are overseas. The group’s headquarters is located in Rapperswil-Jona, St. Gallon, and we have around 12,000 employees in 50 countries.
For decades, sustainability has been an integral part of Geberit’s corporate strategy. While our goal is to continuously improve people’s quality of life with innovative sanitary products, we do so while taking into account ecological, social, and economic sustainability factors.
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What would Geberit like to contribute to the circular economy in the next five years?
The circular economy has played a significant role at Geberit for many years, and this will still be the case in half a decade. We believe that the greatest contribution we can make to a more circular economy is to keep setting new standards for product quality and life span. Geberit continuously contributes to an improved circular economy through this focus, which includes a 25-year spare parts guarantee and a commitment to maximising the backwards compatibility of new products.
Read also: The CLIC® Chronicles: 10 ways to build a circular economy and the companies leading the way
What measures has Geberit taken to save water in the manufacturing and use of its products?
Geberit has a long tradition of making water-saving products, particularly WC cisterns. In the 1950s, a cistern still used around 14 litres of water per flush. But by continually refining our flushing technology, we have drastically reduced that number over the decades. Today, the latest generation of Geberit WCs and cisterns use just four litres of water for large flushes and two litres for small flushes. Therefore, every Geberit cistern sold significantly reduces water consumption in homes and other buildings.
Does Geberit have a net-zero target, and how do you incentivise your employees to meet your emissions goals?
When it comes to our emissions strategy, we follow two fundamental corporate values: credibility and responsibility. And we live those values in two ways. Firstly, when we set emissions reduction targets, we focus on short- and medium-term goals that cover the next few years to ensure that accountability lies squarely with the current generation of management. Starting this year, we have defined an annual emissions reduction target for all 220 Group managers worldwide along with around 1,500 of our employees. And secondly, to ensure that these employees are incentivised to achieve their annual emissions goal, we give it a 20% weighting when calculating our annual bonus payments. Thanks to these measures, our focus on achieving sustainable emissions reductions is very broadly embedded across all of our organisation’s functions.
How is Geberit working to reduce resource use and waste?
We strive to create products that use resources more sustainably through our “Ecodesign” approach, which takes into account the ecological life cycle of raw materials from procurement to disposal. The guiding principle of Ecodesign is that every product must be ecologically better than its predecessor and we do this by using more recycled materials. Since we launched Ecodesign in 2007, we have completed over 170 development projects according to this principle.
The Ecodesign process also results in ongoing improvements to energy efficiency and water consumption during the use phase of our products’ life cycles. We also focus on reducing plastic waste by closing internal material cycles by remanufacturing, reusing and repairing elements during the production process. We recycle or reuse almost 100% of our plastic waste internally, which equates to around 10,000 tonnes of plastic in 2021.
Read also: Can plastic-eating enzymes solve the recycling problem?
How does Geberit support the improvement of basic sanitary services in developing regions?
Training is an important pillar of our work in this area.
Globally, we work with training organisations to develop local knowledge around sanitation.
For our 2019 social project, Geberit supported the renovation and construction of two schools in Cambodia. This ensured that around 1,500 schoolchildren and 50 teachers had reliable access to clean drinking water and new sanitary installations.
We also work with selected aid organisations to improve sanitation in developing countries. One such collaboration is with Swiss development organisation Helvetas, whom Geberit has been supporting for almost a decade in the delivery of its water supply projects – including through employee volunteering. For instance, 15 Geberit employees worked with locals to build an urgently needed water supply line in the village of Rautani, Nepal. The project, which included the installation of a reservoir tank and around 7,500 metres of piping, enabled access to clean water directly from a tap in front of each home – a transformative development in a village where locals had been forced to journey back and forth to a distant well for this essential resource.
Important information
This document is issued by Bank Lombard Odier & Co Ltd or an entity of the Group (hereinafter “Lombard Odier”). It is not intended for distribution, publication, or use in any jurisdiction where such distribution, publication, or use would be unlawful, nor is it aimed at any person or entity to whom it would be unlawful to address such a document. This document was not prepared by the Financial Research Department of Lombard Odier.
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