SKF announced its commitment to have a supply chain with net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Rickard Gustafson, President and CEO, says: “Having already made significant progress on our journey to reducing emissions from our own operations to net zero by 2030, we are today committing to an even more ambitious goal, spanning our full supply chain. Reaching this goal will require major focus and commitment from our own operations, as well as from our suppliers, partners and customers.”

As milestones towards the new 2050 goal, SKF commits to reduce CO2 emissions in its supply chain by 45% by 2035 and by 60% by 2040. In addition, SKF has pledged to source at least 40% of steel from carbon neutral steel plants by 2040 and to reduce transport-related greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2040. This will align with the Paris Climate Agreement to reach net zero global emissions by 2050 and to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

SKF has already taken an important step towards this goal by investing in more energy efficient manufacturing processes and requiring energy-intensive suppliers of steel and forgings to adopt the ISO 50001 standard for systematic energy management. 85% of all suppliers in scope now have this certification.

Rickard Gustafson continues: “SKF’s heritage lies in products that reduce friction and thereby enable a more sustainable industry. Achieving our new, wider ambitions will require new forms of collaboration. For our part, we are approaching the task with determination, experience and technological innovation.”

Progress within manufacturing and increased transparency

From 2022, the Group’s manufacturing site in Gothenburg, Sweden will become the third site to achieve net zero status. This will be achieved by utilizing green energy and investing in more energy efficient processes. The SKF sites that have already achieved this are Tudela, Spain, and Steyr, Austria.

As part of its commitment to transparency and collaboration, SKF joined the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTI) in July 2021. The Group is also advocating for change through its engagement in the SteelZero, RE100 and ResponsibleSteel initiatives.

SKF’s mission is to be the undisputed leader in the bearing business. We do this by offering solutions that reduce friction and CO2 emissions, whilst at the same time increasing machine uptime and performance. Our products and services around the rotating shaft, include bearings, seals, lubrication management, artificial intelligence and wireless condition monitoring. SKF is represented in more than 130 countries and has around 17,000 distributor locations worldwide.