Sustainability Ambassador Program
Motivating our ambassadors to make a contribution
Henkel’s Sustainability Ambassadors are encouraged to visit schools to teach children about sustainable behavior in the home. This helps the next generation understand how to use resources efficiently from an early age. At the same time, the children multiply the impact by imparting their knowledge and their enthusiasm to others around them. By the end of 2020, we had reached around 175,000 schoolchildren in 54 countries.
We also aim to promote healthier lifestyles and increase awareness of waste generation and water and energy consumption across our sites. One element of this commitment is our “(Y)our move toward sustainability” initiative, which was introduced in 2014. It encourages employees to practice sustainability in their day-to-day work, for example, by avoiding unnecessary printing, switching off lights, or eating healthily.
The customers we reach with our brands and technologies are an important target group. Our “Say yes! to the future” initiative, for example, provides Henkel sales representatives around the world with training in sustainability topics that apply to sales, going beyond the content of the Sustainability Ambassador program. They then apply this knowledge in joint projects with our trade partners – in logistics, for example, or by promoting sustainable purchasing decisions.
The three Rs – reducing, recycling, repurposing – took center stage as middle school students transformed detergent bottles into birdfeeders during a Sustainability Ambassador event in Stamford, Connecticut.
In September 2018, Henkel employees visited three local schools in South Africa and provided information about sustainability to around 730 children.
Learning by playing - elementary school children are taught how to handle our planet's resources responsibly. An Xintong and Gan Jiayu are proud of what they've learned at a holiday school in Shanghai, China.
Henkel’s Sustainability Ambassadors visit schools to teach children how to use resources efficiently, like here in Kápolnásnyék, Hungary.
Through school visits Henkel’s Sustainability Ambassadors are engaged to inspire kids for sustainability topics, like here in Indonesia.
Above and beyond our existing programs, we also want to give our employees opportunities to engage in volunteer projects and make their own contribution to the communities in which we operate. These include our “Building Trips”, where our employees help build multi-family houses for people in need. Henkel supports this kind of engagement with in-kind donations, such as construction materials. Henkel is also the main supporter of the Teach First program, which supports the active engagement of university graduates and future leaders. By working as supplementary teachers, these young people help schools and students in socially disadvantaged communities.
