Editorial by the management board
|
Christian Reisinger |
Thomas Fahnemann |
Peter Untersperger |
|
|
Chairman of the management board |
|
Environmental protection, global warming and energy consumption - these issues have been making media headlines for more than just the past few months. And they do leave an impact on a global industrial enterprise such as the Lenzing Group.
The challenges to management by sustainability are growing - purchasing issues, energy supply challenges, product quality demands by the market and by end consumers.
The Lenzing Group is in a process of dynamic and successful expansion and has to answer many new questions. Ecological issues have become the order of the day for the textile industry and for our customers in the nonwovens business who use our cellulose fibers in hygiene and cosmetics products. There is a growing interest in the origin and the sustainability of raw materials. The demands of eco-conscious customers and the future sustainability of products are being discussed.
With fibers made from the renewable resource wood, Lenzing is in a special position. Several interesting properties of Lenzing's botanic fibers are closely related to the plant origin of the raw material. The conservation of land and water, and the fact that wood absorbs carbon dioxide and produces oxygen in the long years before its harvest are essential elements of both sustainability and our business management.
Concepts such as sustainability, corporate social responsibility, new developments in eco-funds and the seemingly limitless number of eco-certificates and certifications of varying credibility make it increasingly difficult to obtain a clear picture of what is required. Even the most aware customers and raw material purchasers are occasionally confused and find it hard to get through to the factual basis of statements and promises.
Lenzing discusses these issues in a clear and credible manner. And that includes the realization that we cannot come out at the top of the class everywhere, all the time; we need to define our room for improvement - and its limitations. It takes more than green raw materials to make a green enterprise, and that applies to the cellulose fiber industry. But it is our ambition as a global company, with a wide variety of conditions at our different production sites, to make the best of any given situation and to act as sustainably as possible.
We are convinced that our products, our processes and our achievements as employers make us a company that rightly deserves the title “sustainable.” Our success of the past years has been very much the result of management by sustainability.
Lenzing has become a very successful international market and technology leader. And the innovative power that it takes to achieve this goal has grown along with our success. So here we are, confident that we will master the challenges of the future - with sustainability.