Areas of Operation: Production
This department is responsible for the production of all the products and services of a company. A production programme determines the production quantities, the capacities, the output as well as the production processes. Thus, there is a large variety of methods available for use in this functional area of corporate biodiversity management. They range from the design of the production site and the optimisation of the product and production processes to the transport between the individual production locations.
Fields of action
Fields of action in can be identified and set by analysing where a company’s activities have a either direct or indirect influence on biodiversity. The spatial relation to biological diversity is intuitively connected to the sites and facilities field of action. Corporate activities influence biodiversity in other ways though as well.
Sites and Facilities
Approaches:
Production site
Goals:
Reduction of remediation costs through avoidance of contaminated sites
Product Design
Approaches:
Product as result of production Development of services
Goals:
Gain in reputation through cooperation with company-external stakeholders
Personnel
Approaches:
Employee behaviour in production
Goals:
Reducing health hazards and costs through training
Supply chains, commodities and materials
Approaches:
Location of material use
Goals:
Substitution of previous raw materials with ecologically sustainable materials Lowering of raw material costs through dematerialisation Reduction of juvenile fish catch so that enough fish reach maturity
Additional information about Supply chains, commodities and materials
Production and manufacturing processes
Approaches:
Production
Goals:
Lowering costs for greenhouse certificates through lowering CO2 emissions Decrease of waste water or other emissions
Best Practice Examples: Audi AG – Lowering water use
Water is essential for life – and it is a scarce good. In order to decrease the use of water, Audi recycles 96% of the water needed in its plant in Ingolstadt. It also gathers rainwater in underground cisterns and collecting tanks, which, over the last 20 years, has lowered the amount of water required per auto by almost 70%.
Best Practice Examples: Native Organics’ new production systems increase the biodiversity on their sugarcane farms
As a Brazilian producer of organic sugar, Native Organics developed a new production system, based on “green” cane harvesting in contrast to traditional burnt cane harvesting. Together with organic cultivation the new system leads to biodiversity levels 23 times higher than in conventional sugarcane farms.
Native Organics
Best Practice Examples: Mars Inc. – Production conditions optimisation
Sustainability is an integral part of the Mars’ corporate policy. This can be seen through continual assessment measures used to optimise Mars’ operational practices. At their headquarters in Viersen, in the last ten years they have been able to reduce natural gas consumption by 23%, electricity usage by 33%, water utilisation by 73%, and rubbish creation by 97%.
Additional information about Production and manufacturing processes
Transport and Logistics
Approaches:
Transport between different production sites Storage of (intermediate) products Transport as service product
Goals:
Reducing transport costs
