High standards and maximum transparency

"Our ambition is to offer our customers the best products and solutions to help them achieve their sustainability goals," says Martin Stillger, CEO of thyssenkrupp Materials Services. "We clearly see the need for sustainable solutions that take effect immediately. That’s why, in addition to CO₂ -reduced products, we also offer our customers the purchase of Voluntary Carbon Credits – and all from a single source, from the supplier they trust."

The certificates are selected in accordance with careful criteria that must be reviewed and developed continuously. In addition, coordination takes place with the customers regarding their wishes. When selecting projects, the question of whether they are sustainable and accompanied by additional measures plays a critical role. Examples of such projects include reforestation, expansion of drinking water supplies and direct air capture carbon and storage. This involves extracting CO₂ out of the atmosphere or a vent, compressing it into rock layers and storing it in mine tunnels, for example. The portfolio also includes biochar projects. Biochar is a process in which biomass is compressed under extreme heat so that no CO₂ can escape. The resulting product is used as a plant fertilizer, for example.

Emissions that are harmful to the climate may only be offset and thus retired once. It is therefore crucial that the process is transparent and recorded in accessible registers to ensure that emission values are assigned to specific VCCs. A prerequisite for offsetting is knowledge of one’s own CO₂ footprint. At thyssenkrupp Materials Services this is achieved with the "Product Carbon Footprint Calculator" introduced in 2022. This calculator measures all emissions along a product’s supply chain and thus provides clarity on the status quo. The aim is for these emissions to also be offset directly via VCCs in the future. 

The Voluntary Carbon Credit Desk (VCC Desk) – service from a single source

The VCC Desk at thyssenkrupp Materials Trading handles the careful selection, procurement and transparent and orderly retirement of emission reduction certificates centrally for thyssenkrupp Materials Services and for its own customers. The resulting offset is relevant both for the company’s own emissions (Company Carbon Footprint) and for emissions in connection with the customer’s trading products (Product Carbon Footprint).

"With the VCC Desk, we relieve customers of an often complicated, labor-intensive and administrative process and make it easier for them to access the Voluntary Carbon Credit market with expert support," said Wolfgang Schnittker, CEO of thyssenkrupp Materials Trading. "The VCC Desk will gradually enable all of thyssenkrupp Materials Services customers as well as external companies to purchase emission reduction certificates and retire them. With CO₂ prices and continuously increasing legal requirements, saving CO₂ emissions will become an economic necessity in the coming years."

The Voluntary Carbon Credit Desk is part of thyssenkrupp Materials Services’ sustainability strategy BEYOND, which is based on internationally recognized ESG criteria but goes beyond legal requirements and standards – hence BEYOND.

thyssenkrupp Materials Trading is an international trading and service company headquartered in Essen, Germany. The product range includes raw materials such as alloys, nonferrous metals, minerals, coke, coal and ores, various raw materials for future technologies, metallurgical products such as steel and tubes, pipe accessories, finished steel and stainless steel, as well as trading in new and used industrial equipment, machine tools, spare parts and construction elements for hydraulic steelwork and the offshore sector, and material and logistics services of all kinds. The range is rounded off by customized offers including financing and shipping.