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Sustainability 

Future business is sustainable business

Sustainability at Continental Automotive 

At the Continental Automotive Group Sector, sustainability means creating ecological, but also social and economic value. With our solutions as well as our processes and standards, we contribute to creating a healthy ecosystem for sustainable mobility - for you and me, for our environment and our society. We are steadily moving towards our sustainability ambitions because future business is sustainable business.

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Philipp von Hirschheydt

Executive Board Member of Continental and Head of Group Sector Automotive

Sustainability is a fundamental part of the Automotive strategy, a matter of the heart for us and our employees and firmly embedded in our daily business. We strive for 100% carbon neutrality, 100% emission-free mobility, 100% circular economy and 100% responsible value chain together with our business partners along the entire value chain.

Continental with all its business sectors is committed to the Paris Agreement and is striving for hundred percent carbon neutrality by 2050 at the latest – along its entire value chain. We are cooperating very closely with our customers, suppliers and other business partners to make sure that all the involved parties comply with the requirements of a sustainable value chain.   

Significantly limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius is essential for mitigating climate change. The way to carbon neutrality is long, but we are making every effort to achieve our ambitious sustainability targets as soon as possible.

An important milestone could already be reached this year. All plants of the Automotive Group Sector worldwide have been climate neutral since 2024 regarding direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions (Scopes 1 and 2, market based) by exclusively purchasing energy from regenerative sources and  Net|Zero|Now program.

Reduction of carbon emissions

Our Goals

Sustainability is a fundamental part of the Automotive strategy, a matter of the heart for us and our employees and firmly embedded in our daily business. 

We strive for 100% carbon neutrality, 100% emission-free mobility, 100% circular economy and 100% responsible value chain together with our business partners along the entire value chain. ​Actively managing and continuously improving our performance in these four focus areas as well as eight essentials is our major goal.

Carbon Neutrality

In order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 at the latest, we have already taken some important steps:

  • We have switched all energy purchased to green energy. Since 2020, Continental has been purchasing green electricity for its own operations worldwide and has thereby reduced its own emissions by around 70%
  • On top of that, we have set up a comprehensive auditing system making sure that all our plants worldwide are certified Gold status plants by 2030. Five of our plants have already reached this highest standard.
  • We have implemented energy efficiency measures and make use of new technologies to reduce our emissions in production processes to a minimum. We are neutralizing our remaining emissions and are proud that our plants can therefore be considered climate neutral since 2024.
  • The independent Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has confirmed that this reduction path is in line with the Paris Agreement’s target path to limit global warming to below 2.0 degrees.

Emission-free Mobility

With the world’s population growing, the demand for mobility and industrial production is also increasing. Given climatic changes and the resulting impact on human health and the environment, it is crucial to avoid producing harmful ​emissions.

Emission-free vehicles on the road will significantly reduce our CO2 footprint over time. Other emissions such as Nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter are also expected to shrink with the industry’s shift towards electric and fuel cell vehicles.

Continental Automotive acknowledges that the shift to electric propulsion has a major impact on the objectives of this focus area. Therefore, we support the transformation towards a cleaner future by providing products and services for emission-free mobility.

These range from Electronic Brake Systems via innovative sensors to services for Software-defined Vehicles.

Please visit the dedicated pages for our complete sustainable product portfolio.

Circular Economy

At Continental Automotive, we are convinced: new methods, processes and products can make the best of our resources and save the environment. Abandoning the linear model of "extract, transform, consume and dispose," we are taking the next step by transforming our products and processes into a circular economy model. It maximizes material capacity with respect to reuse, repair and remanufacture. Recycling concepts are applied as early as in the design phase of our products.

To this effect, the main objectives at Continental Automotive include:​

  • Gradually increase the use of recycled materials for the design of our products. By 2050 all our products will be composed to 100% of recycled material
  • Reduce waste from our operations by reusing and recycling all the materials which become waste, i. e. production scraps, office waste, etc.
  • Improve the recyclability of our products already in the design phase
  • Cooperate with other companies in developing innovative products

Responsible Value Chain

Responsibility along the value chain means that each partner creates ecological, economic and social value for society.  This holds true for our supply chain, customer relationships as well as our own operations.  

responsible value chain
Click here for all details on our Responsible Value Chain
Planting Tree Environmental Awareness

Our Values

Our practice is based on our company values, codes of conducts, respective rules, and policies as well as international frameworks.

At Continental Automotive, we recognize that sustainability is the way forward. This is why sustainable development is at the core of everything that we do. As a leading automotive supplier, we ensure that not only the products that we manufacture are sustainable, also, every single link of our supply chain has to follow sustainable practices. Therefore, we are committed to creating a healthy ecosystem for sustainable and safe mobility thereby contributing to a sustainable future. Our policies, values and our focus areas are the endeavors to achieve our sustainability goals.  Both our management and employees worldwide are committed to making this world a better place.

However, for us, sustainability is not restricted to greener products and infrastructure. Great emphasis is also put on making the lives of our employees and other world citizens’ lives a little better every day. We have pledged towards making our surroundings better and improving the lives of those around us through initiatives that go much beyond business. As a responsible organization, Continental Automotive supports marginalized communities by providing education, health and sanitation as well as financial support in critical situations.

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Our Solutions

Future business is sustainable business!

Sustainability is not only important for our planet, it is also a decisive factor for long-term competitiveness. For this reason, we are permanently seeking to optimize our products, processes, methods and tools.

Our Green Operations 

An important milestone on the way to a emission-free production could already be reached in 2024. All plants and major locations of the Automotive group sector worldwide can be considered climate neutral since 2024 regarding direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions (Scopes 1 and 2, market based) by exclusively purchasing energy from regenerative sources and compensating remaining emissions via Continental’s own Net|Zero|Now program.

green operations

A significant contribution in the transformation towards a sustainable future consists in redesigning the operating conditions of our Automotive plants worldwide. The Green Plant Label, an internal Automotive auditing standard which aims at eliminating all remaining emissions from all our plants by 2030, provides the framework for the transformation of our operations. Therefore, we continuously use and improve the energy efficiency, heat recovery, renewable energy production and much more.

Moreover, since 2020, all new Automotive plants worldwide have been certified according to LEED standard which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED-certified buildings save energy, water, resources, produce less waste and support human health and well-being of our employees. LEED is a benchmark for green construction and emphasizes our commitment to a sustainable future.

our products and services

Our Products and Services

At Continental Automotive, sustainable mobility is the way forward. As a responsible organization, we are focusing on making our products and mobility solutions greener and more sustainable to reduce our impact on the environment and helping our customers meet their demanding sustainability targets. In so doing, we are thinking outside the box searching for innovative materials and solutions.

Underlining our commitment to sustainability, we offer a wide range of green solutions designed to minimize environmental impact. These range from green calipers and drum brakes, that significantly reduce CO2 emissions, via sensors for electrified vehicles to keyfobs made from 100% bio-sourced plastic material. Furthermore, we offer displays the components of which can be reused to almost 70% - as well as DCU housings produced from recycled material.

  • ​Every single product and initiative reflects our dedication to a cleaner and more sustainable future.

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