Strategically smart - not just compliant: How Lohmann is embedding sustainability in its business and what is now needed politically to make the transformation a success.
Read more in the following interview with Lohmann's Global Head of Sustainability, Katharina Candia Avendaño.
Editor: Lohmann pursues a clearly defined sustainability approach - and does so in an environment of economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, and disruptive change. Why does this focus remain so crucial for you?
K. Candia Avendaño: Sustainability is not an add-on, but one of Lohmann's three strategic pillars – on a par with Excellence and Innovation. This importance is also reflected in our content: for us, sustainability encompasses not only ecological aspects such as resource conservation and emission reduction, but also social responsibility, long-term profitable growth and a reliable governance framework.
In an unstable global environment, it is crucial to take a holistic approach to corporate resilience. Sustainability helps us to identify risks at an early stage, build stable partnerships, meet stakeholder expectations, and remain strategically agile. It sharpens our risk perception, stabilizes value chains, and specifically addresses the transformation risks we face as an industrial company.
Editor: What developments are you seeing in the practical implementation of sustainability - especially in your collaboration with customers and partners?
K. Candia Avendaño: Over the past two years, sustainability has developed significantly as a business area, especially when it comes to working with customers. What used to be a sporadic requirement is now increasingly becoming an integral part of our collaboration with customers and partners. Sustainability supplier questionnaires, sustainability certifications, and the disclosure of product carbon footprints (PCFs) are increasingly becoming standard practice. Targeted sustainability agreements, such as green electricity agreements or specified climate targets, are also becoming much more common in the context of new product developments.
This naturally increases the workload, even though it makes perfect sense to work on these issues across the supply chain. This is especially true because the requests are not standardized and come in via a wide variety of digital and analog platforms. In my view, however, it should not just be about transparency - it should be about genuine collaboration. Developing more sustainable products with customers is the real lever for creating a sustainable impact. I believe that these forms of active collaboration could become even more standard.
Editor: Regulatory density in the area of sustainability has increased massively in recent years and is considered particularly complex. CSRD, EU taxonomy, CSDDD – many companies are struggling with implementation. How do you see this?
K. Candia Avendaño: It is undeniable that a high level of regulatory density has built up in a very short time. CSRD, EU taxonomy, supply chain due diligence – all these guidelines are coming into force almost simultaneously and, in some cases, are insufficiently coordinated. This is overwhelming many companies, especially because two prerequisites are often not met: First, there is a lack of end-to-end digitalization and reliable data availability. Second, the technical resources – from ESG controlling to regulatory interpretation – are still being developed in many places.
Nevertheless, the thrust of these regulations is correct. They create a framework for systematically analyzing environmental and social risks, future-proofing business models, and ultimately identifying strategic opportunities. They force companies to engage with sustainability at a structural level, which is an advantage in the long term, even if it is challenging in the short term.
Editor: What do you think is needed to ensure that this transformation is successful across the board?
K. Candia Avendaño: Targeted political support measures are needed: digital infrastructures that enable standardized ESG data collection, practical guidelines, targeted support programs, but also clear consideration of the realities facing small and medium-sized enterprises. This applies not only to large companies, but also explicitly to smaller businesses, which have to meet the same requirements with significantly fewer resources. Sustainable transformation must not pose a structural risk for certain sizes of companies.
Editor: Despite the numerous challenges, how do you implement sustainability at Lohmann in concrete terms – beyond reports and regulatory requirements?
K. Candia Avendaño: We are working systematically to embed sustainability structurally within the company. The first step is to create a common understanding of what sustainability means in our specific industrial context – for individual functions, business processes, and decision-making levels. It is about making sustainability concrete and manageable, identifying potential, and addressing the impact on processes, products and collaboration at an early stage.
At the same time, we can build on existing foundations. Lohmann took important steps toward sustainable transformation early on, for example by investing in solvent-free production technologies and developing more environmentally friendly product solutions. Lohmann has received several awards for these activities, which shows that the strategic relevance of sustainability was recognized early on in the company. Our goal is to further develop these initiatives, consolidate them in a targeted manner and align them more closely with the requirements of the future.
Editor: In your opinion, what is particularly important for managing sustainability?
K. Candia Avendaño: An important lever is the expansion of global sustainability controlling and reporting, which enables data-based management along clearly defined sustainability goals. However, internal or external audits – such as those carried out as part of certification processes – also help to systematically identify and address potential for improvement along the value chain. The learning effect is particularly high when these are carried out internally.
Personally, I am looking forward to the next steps and the innovations that lie ahead, and overall to the opportunities that sustainable business practices open up. However, it must be clear that no company can go down this path alone. We can only continue to develop with structural improvements and together with our customers, partners, suppliers and all other stakeholders. But I am confident that we will succeed.
