Environmental Award winners
The Atlas Copco Environmental Award honors outstanding performance in preserving the environment for future generations and promoting and inspiring companies in their work to minimize negative environmental impact.
Award winners
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2021
Winners: Compressor Technique Service division’s lubricant team
In recognition of: For their outstanding performance in preserving the environment for the future by reducing the environmental impact from oils used to lubricate the screw elements.
About the project: The award is established to inspire the organization to create business value while reducing the environmental impact. Through dedicated teamwork, the Compressor Technique Service division’s lubricant team managed to reduce the environmental impact from oils used to lubricate the screw elements. The lubricant team is an interdisciplinary team of marketing, purchasing and engineering professionals, who collaborates closely with suppliers. The team applied a cradle-to-grave perspective to reduce the environmental impact, and came to the conclusion that using synthetic oils instead of mineral oils reduced the CO2 footprint from the oils and compressors significantly.
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2020
Winners: Vacuum Technique’s Industrial Vacuum division
In recognition of: For their outstanding performance in preserving the environment for the future and finding new ways that support the green logistics strategy.
About the project: Leybold, a leading vacuum producer based in Cologne, Germany, sends heavy pumps weighing more than 150 kilograms, plus semi-finished parts like components and rotors, to Tianjin, China, for local production and distribution.
The ‘Lighthouse project’ began in mid-2019, when 20 full container loads was sent by rail nearly 8,000 kilometers from Germany to China. Leybold now sends cargo in three train containers per week to DC Shanghai and PC Tianjin. The strategy to switch to rail is driven by environmental and cost optimization needs, but it is also based on a strong focus on customer requirements. By using alternative and reliable transport modes like rail, the division has been able to maintain supply and customer support also in this challenging time of a global pandemic.
The benefits of train transports are clear. On this particular route, rail freight is 75% less costly than air freight, while the train emits 90% less carbon emissions. Compared to ocean freight, the train is 50% quicker as the distance by rail is 8,000 kilometers compared to more than 23,000 kilometers by ocean.
Additionally, the sea transport strategy for Europe to North America which aims to shift transport from air to sea, has been rolled out. The result is that sea transport has grown from 42% of shipments made in 2017 to 78% in 2020. Leybold now sends cargo in eight containers per month to its distribution center in North America.
Learn more about our other awards
The Atlas Copco Group has six official awards relating to innovation, marketing and sales, operational excellence, environmental performance, safety and health, and our community engagement initiative Water for All.