Xella International GmbH: Xella achieves significant progress in CO₂ emissions reduction, circular economy, and occupational safety

Duisburg, 27 March 2025 – Xella Group, a leading European provider of sustainable, efficient, and affordable walling solutions, has made substantial progress in CO₂ reduction, circular economy, and occupational safety over the past year. The company is on track to achieve its ambitious sustainability targets for 2030.

Xella’s scope 1 and 2 market-based CO2e emissions decreased by 6.6 percent, driven by the full-year impact of 2023 energy efficiency projects and measures implemented in 2024 while gross production remained stable. As an important milestone, Xella completed its coal phase-out with the final installation of three future-proof gas boilers, currently operating on gas and LPG but also capable of using hydrogen. Altogether, Xella has already achieved about 30 percent of its 2030 scope 1 and 2 emissions goal at the end of last year. This is perfectly in line with its climate targets[1] that are externally approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).

The Group has also achieved a milestone on its road to circularity. Xella set the target of sending zero leftovers to landfill by 2030. In the past year, the quantities of leftovers from Xella’s building products - Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) and Calcium Silicate Units (CSU) - sent to landfill decreased by 46 percent compared to 2023. To advance the circularity of its products, Xella continues to optimize its formulations to decrease the use of virgin raw materials, and its value chain to receive secondary materials from recycling companies. Among the actions to support this, Xella is significantly investing in upgrading the capacity of key plants to handle and process leftovers while also developing new products based on crushed and milled AAC coarse material and lighter materials.

Furthermore, Xella has determinedly and consistently pursued its safety culture transformation, recording a further 20 percent decrease in lost-time injuries compared to the previous year. As part of this transformation, Xella has increased and enhanced its training programs to ensure a safe work environment and is also on track to meet its target in increasing training hours by 58 percent by 2030.

Christophe Clemente, Chief Executive Officer at Xella Group, said: “Sustainability is at the heart of what we do. Our efforts to reduce CO₂, improve the circular economy, and ensure safe working environments are demonstrably paying off. This progress would not be possible without the dedication of our employees, suppliers and partners – thank you for your commitment and achievement. We are building a sustainable world.”

Cécile Fages, Chief Sustainability and Communications Officer at Xella Group commented: “We are making great progress with our ESG roadmap. Our strategy brings together clear and proactive goals that define Xella’s role in protecting its employees, the environment, and the wider community.”

 

Xella’s commitment to sustainability has been acknowledged by external ESG experts. The Group received a new rating from S&P Global Ratings in January 2025, with a score of 52 in the construction materials category compared to an average score of 37 for the industry. This ranks Xella among the top 22 percent in this sector.

Well positioned and prepared for the turnaround

As foreseen, 2024 was a transition year for the construction market in Europe. The activity in some countries started to recover, while others bottomed out or continued to decline. In these challenging conditions, Xella achieved a solid turnover of one billion euros (0.99 compared to 1.09 billion euros the previous year). The normalized EBITDA came to 186 million euros (compared to 205 million euros in 2023).

Over the past year, the Group further optimized its production network and reviewed its entire value chain. The derived measures are unlocking significant efficiencies and considerably reducing fixed costs. Altogether, the Group further adapted to the challenging macroeconomic situation while staying on track with its ambitious sustainability aims. Thanks to these initiatives and with a market recovery on the horizon, Xella is optimistic about surpassing former thresholds in the midterm.

Further information is also available on the Xella Group website: www.xella.com/sustainability-report-2024

[1] The company aims to reduce its market-based CO₂ emissions in scope 1 and 2 by 42 percent by the end of the decade. Furthermore, scope 3 emissions (representing 85 percent of global CO2e emissions) from purchased goods and services will be reduced by 25 percent by 2030.