“Health and Safety” is one of the five focal areas in which Henkel endeavors to increase its contribution to sustainable development. Occupational health and product safety are, of course, integral to the approach adopted, as are health programs for employees and the provision of comprehensive consumer information.

U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart has selected Henkel to receive the “Wal-Mart Sustainability Award". Henkel was recognized as the one company demonstrating the most comprehensive approach to sustainability and making a substantial contribution to Wal-Mart’s sustainability strategy.

People purchasing a branded Henkel product expect the highest quality. However, this is not the only demand satisfied by such products. For more than 130 years, Henkel has been combining leading brand performance with responsibility toward people and the environment. Last year, Henkel launched a broad-based, global sustainability initiative under the slogan “Quality and Responsibility”. Henkel is committed to open dialog in this regard – not only with the community of sustainability experts but with customers and consumers as well.

Global competition is posing new challenges for all market players. In meeting these challenges, it is becoming increasingly important to combine product performance with responsibility toward people and the environment. Henkel has already been working toward achieving sustainable development for more than 130 years. The company sees its sustainability strategy – which encompasses the entire value chain – as an opportunity to set itself apart from its competitors and offer added value to customers and consumers.

Energy efficiency and the climate compatibility of processes and products are among the key quality criteria of the future. Henkel has long been committed to maximizing energy efficiency in both production and the ensuing products. Now Henkel is also taking part in Germany’s “Product Carbon Footprint” pilot project with the aim of driving forward the development of appropriate methods for determining all climate-relevant emissions attributable to a product – reliable techniques that are capable of generating transparent and comparable results. The project participants have now presented a range of concepts for calculating and analyzing product-related green house gas emission balances.

Combining economic success with corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been a core issue for Henkel throughout its more than 130-year history. The globally active brands manufacturer has now received the accolade of “Germany’s Most Sustainable Brand”. The award is in recognition of exemplary performance in sustainability management and the associated communication work.

People around the world produce 130 million metric tons of waste – per day. A huge volume.  Waste can adversely affect our health, our prosperity and indeed our civilization. How does an internationally active FMCG manufacturer such as Henkel tackle this problem? It goes straight to its roots, that is to say the raw materials from which its products and packaging are made. Because the ingredients used in detergents, cosmetics and adhesives also determine what and how much is left at the end and whether the waste that arises is biologically degradable or recyclable. In some cases, moreover, substantial volumes of waste can be avoided through the use of concentrates.

Committing to sustainable development and corporate social responsibility includes tackling the issue of where the raw materials for production originate and how they themselves are produced. Palm kernel oil, a renewable raw material used in the manufacture of surfactants (surface-active substances used in laundry and home care and also cosmetic products) is a case in point. Together with independent partners, Henkel has helped to achieve recognition of certificates for sustainable palm kernel oil as issued for official trading by the ‘Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil’ – and bought the certificates for the new Terra Activ cleaners. The certificates serve to confirm sustainable palm cultivation in the countries of origin and contribute to protecting the rain forests. The process for trading these certificates, known as ‘Book & Claim’, functions in a manner similar to that applied to eco-electricity.

Henkel has again been included in the FMCG market segment of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, signifying that Henkel leads its peers in this industry category. To be incorporated into the index, companies have to show an exemplary track record in adhering to the principles of sustainable development.

• Energy consumption per ton of production output reduced by 40 percent in the last ten years
• Further reduction of 15 percent to be achieved by 2012
• Innovative products and technologies provide basis for sustainable development

Henkel is among the winners of this year’s BDI Environmental Award. Dr. Ramón Bacardit, Corporate Senior Vice President Adhesive Technologies Research, accepted the award for Bonderite NT in Berlin on Monday, June 23, 2008.

The doors of the world exhibition in Zaragoza, northern Spain, remain open until September 14, 2008. Henkel is an official sponsor of Expo 2008, the theme of which is “Water and Sustainable Development”.

• Water is a scarce resource worldwide
• Four billion people do not have adequate access to drinking water supplies
• Henkel with research teams and advanced technologies for resource-conserving use of water through constantly improved processes and product performance

For decades, Henkel has been an active proponent of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. This includes committing to the use of renewable raw materials and promoting resource conservation. Whenever palm oil is in discussion, reference is constantly made to the felling of the rainforests. It is the mission of the “Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil” (RSPO) to ensure that commercialized palm oil satisfies certain key sustainability criteria. Right from the start, Henkel has supported this process, participating in meetings and contributing its expert knowledge to the ensuing debate. As a visible symbol of this engagement, Henkel joined the international RSPO as an official member in April 2008.

Better for the laundry, better for the environment – that is the new “Persil – better than ever from 20°C”. From April 2008, Persil with its high-performance active stain remover will be offering even better results from just 20°C, enabling the laundry to be washed at low temperatures – with proven Persil cleanliness still abounding, of course. Hence, with Persil, it is possible to both save energy and spare the environment.

Energy consumption down 21 percent, water consumption down 15 percent, and waste down 32 percent – profit and sales up. These are three results of Henkel’s sustainability performance over the past five years, as presented today at a Sustainability Press Conference. By the year 2012, Henkel intends to reduce its energy consumption by another 15 percent, and achieve further reductions of 10 percent in water consumption and waste generation, per metric ton of output in each case. Using its laundry and homecare products as examples, Henkel also demonstrated how these can help to save energy, for instance by washing laundry at temperatures as low as 20 degrees Celsius.

The outstanding achievements by Henkel towards sustainable development have once again been honored by an independent body: Henkel is the winner of the “ESG Award 2008” in the category DAX (German Share Index) Businesses. On the occasion of a festive ceremony, CFO Dr. Lothar Steinebach and Dr. Wolfgang Gawrisch, CTO Research/Technology and Chairman of Henkel’s Sustainability Council accepted the prize yesterday evening in Frankfurt am Main.