Future business is sustainable 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.

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.
  

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.

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
  

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.