Sustainability is extremely important to the Haier Group. Antony Peart, Director of Brand Communications UK & ROI: Haier, Hoover and Candy writes:
Sustainability is one of our pillars and like everybody else Haier is working on reducing its carbon footprint, with plenty of KPIs to reach and very clear goals to achieve in the coming years.
Haier is on a transformation journey towards being the first consumer choice for smart home solutions. This vision – combined with the need for a more circular economy and society – calls us to rethink our design, production, and consumption practices.
As the world’s global No1 major appliances brand (Euromonitor 2023), we take our responsibility extremely seriously. Sustainability is a key enabler in our strategic plan as we aim to reduce our social and environmental impacts by leveraging what is at the core of our business: artificial intelligence and connectivity.
Our key sustainability initiatives
We have just announced our commitment to submit a plan for emissions reductions in line with Science based targets within the next two years. In parallel, we are performing a thorough assessment of our emissions in all areas of our value chain and continuously working to build supply chain transparency and ensure efficiency of our products through all areas of the lifecycle.
Our IoT and connectivity approach extends the durability and efficiency of our products, helps prevent food waste and empowers educated consumers on sustainable living. The h0n app provides a range of features to transform the experience of our customers into a sustainability journey.
hOn app
Our h0n app has been developed to deliver energy savings and efficiency across our connected appliances for Haier, Hoover and Candy. We aim to have 100% of our products connected by 2025 in order to drive efficiency and sustainability in the use phase and end of life of our products.
In addition, the connectivity featured on the h0n app empowers educated consumers, teaching and informing on sustainable habits related to the use of our products, that save resources and bringing awareness on climate change and sustainability.
The app has a number features centered on reducing energy and resources consumption and prolonging the life of our products including:
- Wide range of AI features to optimise energy & H20 consumption and prevent unnecessary wear and tear
- Seize less carbon intensive electricity times through timing remote delay feature
- IoT ecosystems Smart grid connectivity for solar energy use
- Reducing travel footprint with wireless preventative maintenance and updates
- Tips, alerts and guidance focused on circularity, resource and cost savings
- On demand manuals and OTA updates reduce number of spare parts needed
hOn connectivity can allow users to prevent 65 kg of food waste per family, equal to about 22 daily meals7 and save approximately 100Kwh of energy per year through its usage suggestions and features that help users choose the best options for energy and water consumption.
Key Sustainability Achievements to date
We have put forward a very strong agenda and targets in terms of sustainability and social responsibility. We have a full programme, and have made some excellent progress to date. It is certainly a core investment channel for the business, because our environment is what is most precious to us all. Our achievements include:
Emissions in operations and production
In 2022, we are proud to have reduced our scope 1&2 emissions by over 20% from 2021 through implementing a range of energy efficiency solutions in our Italian factory such as introducing zero emission electric boilers, implementing more efficient smart meter systems and optimising the performance of our manufacturing lines. We have made the commitment to achieve at least 60% renewable energy across all of our controlled sites by 2025.
Products
Sustainable packaging – In line with a circularity approach and our sustainable packaging initiative, we have achieved 100% recyclable packaging in our small domestic appliances product line and aim to set more targets in 2023, to transform our packaging in other product lines to fully recyclable materials over the next 5 years.
A-Class washing machines – Haier Europe now has the most A class washing machines on the market today and we aim to continue the presence of high efficiency products as a priority.
Bringing second life to products – In line with extending the lifecycle of our products, we have partnered with small local businesses in key markets, with the first pilot project in France, for the refurbishment and resale of our products. We are currently assessing this for implementation in UK and Germany with the aim of offering more consumers the opportunity to access pre-used appliances.
Assessing the lifecycle impact of our products – In line with a full review of our value chain emissions, we are identifying key products for life cycle assessments, starting with our cooling product line, so that we can drive sustainability in the key areas that are needed the most. We aim to expand critical assessments of the lifecycle of our appliances to all product lines in the next 5 years.
We are also happy to announce that once again the Lufthansa Group has given us the “Climate Supporter” award in recognition of our efforts to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future.