03 Climate is precious to us
Climate protection is one of humankind’s biggest challenges. Rising sea levels, forest fires, water shortages, severe weather events, and loss of biodiversity are just a few of the adverse impacts of climate change.
Our business activities result in carbon emissions at our company and along our value chain. We pledge to our responsibility by putting a high priority on a significant and timely reduction of our carbon footprint.
Targets and KPIs
Net-zero
0.0
Fossil fuels
by 2033, Scope 1+2
-50%
We will reduce carbon emissions along our value chain, for example by engaging with mining partners to support their decarbonization efforts and by increasing the proportion of secondary metals in our products.
2 In our factbooks 2022 and 2023, we communicated our aim to become carbon-neutral by 2025 through a combination of reducing emissions as much as possible and the purchase of carbon credits to offset remaining emissions. While we continue to pursue the energy consumption reduction and green electricity targets set for 2025, we have decided to refrain from offsetting. Public opinion and international standards are cautious about carbon credits, and value reducing emissions at the source more than offsetting. Our mission remains unchanged: We strive to make genuine efforts in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.
3 Compared to our emissions in the 2020 baseline year.
Emissions
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol has defined three “scopes” of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions:
Scope 1
GHG emissions generated directly by the company’s activity.
Scope 2
GHG emissions from the generation of purchased energy consumed by the company.
Scope 3
GHG emissions occurring in the company’s value chain.
Where we stand
In 2024, following a multi-year trend, we made significant progress in emission reduction. We reduced our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 12% compared to 2023 and if we extend the comparison to the baseline year 2019, we reduced our emissions by 78%.
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The achievement of the 12% reduction of Scope 1 and 2 emissions in 2024 breaks down to:
- A 4% reduction in our direct GHG emissions (Scope 1) at our headquarters in Mendrisio. We have already eliminated GHG emissions deriving from the purchase of energy (Scope 2) since 2022, as we purchase electricity generated from 100% renewable sources4 and produce our own through the photovoltaic system on all of our buildings.
- A significant 15% reduction (Scope 1 and 2) at our production site in Hong Kong, thanks to measures to improve the efficiency of production activities.
Our sites in Pforzheim, Germany, and Cavenago di Brianza, Italy, have always maintained minimal GHG emissions. In any case, thanks to the efforts mainly related to the purchase of renewable electricity, we managed to reduce our emissions to zero at these locations as well.
Overall, we have achieved very positive results in reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
However, the key challenge is to reduce Scope 3 emissions. In 2024, these accounted for 99.97% of our total emissions, with more than 99% originating from the purchase of precious metals. We recognize that in order to reduce emissions along the value chain, we need to work together with our mining partners.
In 2024, our Scope 3 emissions increased by 3%. This was mainly due to an increase in purchased gold. We acknowledge that volatile and cyclical market demands, especially for gold, will continue to be a challenge. Yet we are confident that our planned actions will enable us to reach our set targets. Compared to our 2020 base year, our Scope 3 emissions reduced by 23%.
Scope 1 and 2 emissions
(tCO2e)
Scope 3 emissions
(tCO2e)
Energy consumption
We rely on three main sources of energy for our production and business activities and to heat or cool our buildings:
Electricity
Electricity accounts for the majority of our energy consumption. In addition to purchasing electricity, we operate solar panels on our production buildings.
Natural gas
Natural gas is mainly used for heating buildings and for production processes. Consumption is therefore linked to weather conditions and refining volumes.
Propane
In the foundries we use propane to create the protective atmosphere necessary for the gold and silver casting processes. Consumption is highly correlated to the quantities of gold and silver bars produced.
Where we stand
We continued to work to reduce energy consumption in line with our commitment. We made significant progress at all our sites. In total, we reduced our energy consumption by 8% compared to 2023 and by 9% overall compared to our 2019 base year. At the same time, since 2019, our business has grown by more than 80%.
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While we may not be able to reach our target of reducing energy consumption by 20% by 2025, we remain fully committed to maximizing our efforts and continue to implement measures to improve energy efficiency across our operations with the aim of getting as close as possible to the stated target.
In Mendrisio, we achieved an overall reduction of 6% in energy consumption in 2024. We reduced the consumption of natural gas by 11% compared to 2023, thanks to the continuous optimization in the technology and management of heating and cooling systems, as further described in the “Projects and initiatives” section. Furthermore, we reduced the consumption of electricity by 7% in the same timeframe, thanks to more careful usage of all electrical machinery and other efficiency measures.
In Hong Kong, we continued to implement up-to-date technologies and efficiency measures in all areas leading to a 15% reduction in energy consumption in 2024.
Our sites in Pforzheim, Germany, and in Cavenago di Brianza, Italy, consume only a minimum of energy in the form of purchased electricity compared to our Mendrisio and Hong Kong sites. These locations account for less than 1% of our total energy consumption.
Total energy consumption (MWh)
Energy consumption (MWh)
Mendrisio, Switzerland
Energy consumption (MWh)
Hong Kong SAR, China
Projects and initiatives
We are committed to reducing energy consumption by improving the efficiency of our operations. In 2024, we continued this effort by implementing several upgrades at our Mendrisio site, including the installation of high-efficiency ventilation motors, more efficient cooling pumps, and other improvements. These measures are expected to save approximately 650 MWh annually.
At our Hong Kong site, we replaced older equipment with new, higher-efficiency units. For example, an upgrade to an old chiller leads to an estimated annual energy saving of 170 MWh, representing a 50% reduction in energy use compared to the previous systems.
Efficiency relies not only on adopting the latest technologies, but also on closely monitoring how energy is used. To support this, we installed 60 new energy meters across our production departments in Mendrisio, equipped with dedicated monitors for individual departments. Thanks to these monitors all employees can “visualize” energy consumption in real time. Energy meters will also be installed in the Hong Kong site in the coming months. This initiative will help us better understand our energy consumption patterns and identify new opportunities to improve efficiency.
04 Resources are precious to us
Our business activities rely on precious resources. We live up to our responsibility by improving our processes and products so that they require fewer and fewer resources and by adopting circular approaches wherever possible. This includes responsible waste management and disposal, and an environmentally conscious use of resources. Our commitment to conserving resources is reinforced by our recycling efforts, which help to keep precious metals within the cycle of use.