SDG Reporting

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Modules in the Geberit sustainability strategy or chapters in the sustainability report that are relevant to this goal:

Employee attraction & retention
Social responsibility
Training and education (GRI 404)
Management approach customer relations

Relevance for Geberit
As a technology-oriented company, Geberit is reliant on the innovative strength of its employees. As a result, encouraging further qualifications and innovative performance plays a key role in the education and further training of employees. By sharing knowledge and building up customer know-how, Geberit makes a significant contribution to the development of the entire value chain and, through its role as a knowledge multiplier, also makes a positive impact on the workforce and the sanitary industry as a whole. Taking on social responsibility through partnerships in social projects and the application of in-house know-how in these projects makes a positive contribution to social development in disadvantaged regions.

Geberit’s contribution

• Training apprentices is of great significance at Geberit. Careers at Geberit can start with a commercial, industrial or technical apprenticeship. In 2023, 274 apprentices (previous year 283) were employed. The transfer rate to a permanent employment relationship was 65% (previous year 83%). Furthermore, 124 internships were made available and 24 Bachelor and Master theses supervised.
• The internal development programmes GROW and LEAD aim to identify talents in the company and support them along their path to middle or senior management. In the reporting year, around 100 employees took part in these programmes. The internal development programmes are intended to help fill at least half of all vacant managerial positions with internal candidates.
• In the reporting year, employees across the Group attended on average 14.5 hours of internal and external education and further training.
• Some 60,000 professionals were provided with education and further training on Geberit products, tools, software tools and installation skills at 30 Geberit Information Centres in Europe and overseas. In this way, Geberit supported innovation, growth and value added in the sanitary industry in the reporting year.
• With the social engagement strategy adopted in the reporting year, Geberit decided to enter into partnership with the Hilti Foundation. The goal of the partnership is to establish dual vocational training in the sanitary industry in Kenya. In 2023, around 100 apprentices – 45% of them women – took part in school activities at the Don Bosco School in Karen, near Nairobi. Additionally, they received practical training at the 25 local sanitary companies involved. The programme and cooperation between the Hilti Foundation and Geberit will be significantly expanded from 2024 on.
• Despite the war in Ukraine, the local Geberit sales company continued its long-standing project for supporting the professional training of plumbers in the country. By the end of June 2023 (end of the three-year project phase), around 2,730 young people – including 48 women – had taken part in dual studies as plumbers. Around 230 teaching staff were also trained as part of this project. Geberit also provided additional support to 25 vocational schools in Ukraine with material and equipment.

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Modules in the Geberit sustainability strategy or chapters in the sustainability report that are relevant to this goal:

Social responsibility
Water
Eco-design & sustainable products

Relevance for Geberit
By developing and selling water-saving sanitary solutions, Geberit makes a valuable contribution to saving increasingly scarce drinking water resources. The biggest environmental contribution by Geberit products lies in the conservation of water, which indirectly also saves on energy and reduces CO₂ emissions. This is the most pivotal aspect of the company’s contribution towards sustainable development. Innovative Geberit sanitary products reduce the amount of water consumed and help to systematically optimise the way in which water is used in buildings while maintaining the highest hygiene standards – including in terms of drinking water.

Geberit’s contribution

• Geberit has a comprehensive range of products that facilitate sustainable sanitary solutions, and that contribute to increased quality of life with low water, resource and energy consumption and with environmentally friendly materials. Geberit’s water footprint shows that nearly 100% of the water consumption is attributable to the use of products by customers. This is where Geberit’s product portfolio comes into its own.
• WC cisterns are the central element when it comes to water conservation. According to one model calculation, all Geberit dual-flush and stop-and-go cisterns installed in place of traditional flushing systems (with 9-litre full flush) since 1998 have so far saved around 34,940 million m³ of water. In 2023 alone, the water saved amounted to 2,940 million m³. Water conservation is the result of a balanced overall system. Reducing the flush volume in the cistern while at the same time ensuring that the WC pan is optimally flushed out is just as important as correctly dimensioning the drainage system.
• Stagnation and dirt in the drinking water system are among the greatest risks that can adversely affect the quality of the water in domestic installations. Geberit offers various solutions (e.g. hygiene filters, sanitary flush units) for ensuring drinking water hygiene in a reliable and economical manner.
• Thanks to targeted investments in research and development in areas such as hydraulics and virtual engineering, Geberit is working on developing innovations for the future. Here, Geberit regards eco-design as the key to environmentally friendly products. Eco-design has been an integral part of the development process since 2007 and has already been adopted in more than 185 development projects. One current example that particularly helps to reduce the environmental impact and reduce water consumption and CO₂ emissions is the Geberit Acanto WC with TurboFlush. It offers improved flushing-out performance thanks to optimised hydraulics, with minimal water consumption.
• Geberit actively endorses assessment criteria that allow for an effective differentiation of water-saving products in an effort to meet EU targets for resource efficiency. In 2017, it was involved in the establishment of the Unified Water Label Association (UWLA; formerly European Bathroom Forum). The UWLA water label aims to support customers in the selection of resource-efficient products.
• Geberit has been carrying out social projects with its own apprentices since 2008. In 2023, eleven apprentices travelled to India and installed toilets, washbasins and a shower in the new sanitary wing of the Ananda School in collaboration with the Swiss NGO Stiftung Usthi. They also installed water supply pipes in the school kitchen. The new sanitary installations and improved access to running drinking water benefit the 246 schoolchildren and their teachers.

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Modules in the Geberit sustainability strategy or chapters in the sustainability report that are relevant to this goal:

Energy & CO₂
Eco-design & sustainable products
TCFD Reporting

Relevance for Geberit
Geberit stands for an ambitious and implementation-oriented approach in terms of climate change mitigation. In 2023, CO₂ emissions (Scopes 1 and 2) amounted to 121,014 tonnes. As part of the CO₂ strategy, Geberit’s medium-term goal is a CO₂ reduction of 5% per year compared to currency-adjusted net sales. In comparison with the reference year 2015, relative CO₂ emissions are to be reduced by 80% by 2035.

Geberit’s contribution

• The CO₂ strategy revised in 2022 builds on the successes of the strategy 2015–2021. The central element is the integration of the CO₂ strategy in all relevant business processes as well as the handling of CO₂ emissions as external costs by means of internal CO₂ pricing. In this way, Geberit wants to ensure that the procedure of reducing the company’s carbon footprint is widely supported within the company, incorporated in daily business activities, and that the measures taken have a long-term, sustainable effect.
• Systematic energy and CO₂ monitoring and an energy master plan are being implemented in the most energy-intensive plants to manage and plan energy consumption. Pivotal in energy management and the CO₂ strategy are measures for saving energy, increasing efficiency and procuring energy in the plants. The corresponding measures are drawn up and implemented as part of an energy master plan and a rolling CO₂ forecasting of the significant plants. The proportion of renewable energies is being further increased throughout the company, always taking the internal CO₂ reference price and the economic efficiency of the planned projects into consideration.
• Overall, the volume of purchased green electricity with proof of origin was increased by 16.5 GWh to 128.3 GWh in 2023. Renewable energy sources accounted for 78.9% of electricity and 5.2% of combustibles. Moreover, 3.0 GWh of green electricity was produced in Givisiez (CH) and Pfullendorf (DE).
• In the reporting year, absolute CO₂ emissions (Scopes 1 and 2) decreased by 19.6% to 121,014 tonnes, while CO₂ emissions in relation to currency-adjusted net sales (CO₂ intensity) decreased by 15.6%. Since the acquisition of the ceramics business, the CO₂ intensity has improved by 63.2%, or 11.8% per year on average.
• Geberit also contributes to reducing Scope 3 emissions as part of purchasing and product development. Since 2007, all new products have been optimised in terms of sustainability as part of eco-design workshops. The sustainable design of products makes a significant impact on Scope 3 emissions at Geberit. The selection of suitable product materials with minimal CO₂ emissions plays an increasingly important role, and is addressed in discussions with suppliers and included in decision-making processes.
• Geberit has the goal of significantly reducing CO₂ emissions on its own, wherever possible. There is an increasing demand for CO₂-reduced or carbon-neutral products among customers. As part of the CO₂ strategy, Geberit is testing out the approach of compensating for currently unavoidable CO₂ emissions from ceramic production with the purchase of high-quality CO₂ certificates as part of a pilot project run by the Swiss myclimate foundation.