Friday, October 10, 2025
Henkel Adhesive Technologies and Dow (NYSE: DOW) have announced significant growth of their long-standing strategic alliance to accelerate sustainability across the adhesive sectors. The enhanced partnership is designed to promote decarbonisation in the production of adhesives, setting a new standard for value chain collaboration and environmental stewardship.
The initial phase of this intensified joint effort is focusing on Henkel’s hot-melt adhesive manufacturing processes. This initiative involves the introduction of low-carbon feedstocks and the increased utilisation of renewable electricity in production. These practical steps are projected to achieve a substantial product carbon footprint (PCF) reduction for the targeted hot melt adhesive product lines, ranging between 20 and 40 percent, depending on the specific product formulation. This push directly aligns with Henkel’s corporate commitment to achieve ambitious, Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) relevant carbon emission reductions. By tackling the hot melt portfolio first, which is heavily used in the packaging and consumer goods adhesives industry, Henkel is addressing a crucial segment of its business where sustainable alternatives are in high demand.
Collaboration as the catalyst
The success of this partnership underscores a growing trend in the industrial landscape: achieving significant sustainability milestones requires deep, cross-company collaboration, moving beyond internal targets to actively reform the upstream supply chain.
“Our collaboration reflects Henkel’s ambition to drive meaningful change in industrial sustainability,” stated Jenna Koenneke, Sustainability Director at Henkel Adhesive Technologies. She emphasised that the integration of low-carbon materials and process-based emission reduction levers, such as renewable electricity, sets a “precedent for how value chain partnerships can accelerate sustainability.” This statement highlights the notion that the combined resources and innovative capabilities of two global leaders can unlock scalable climate solutions that were previously unattainable for a single entity.
The integration of materials science innovations from Dow with Henkel’s extensive adhesive manufacturing expertise is already yielding tangible results. Early implementation projects across select hot melt adhesive technologies have demonstrated a measurably improved emission profile, proving the efficacy of their joint strategy. These positive initial outcomes will form the foundation for a larger, global strategy to scale low-carbon solutions across Henkel’s broader adhesives portfolio.
The commitment from both companies is driven by a recognition of both the environmental imperative and the growing market demand for sustainable products. The industry is increasingly focused on achieving net-zero goals, and collaborations like this are essential to distribute the necessary investments and accelerate the pace of change.
Peter Sandkuehler, Senior Business Sustainability Director at Dow, commented on this shift, saying, “This collaboration demonstrates the demand for low carbon products in the market and the ambition to increase the investments needed to help the industry and value chain reach their net zero goals. We are proud to continue on this journey with Henkel.” This mutual commitment helps to de-risk the transition to sustainable production methods by guaranteeing a market for low-carbon materials and products.
Initially, the decarbonisation programme focuses on materials supplied to Henkel operations across Europe. However, both companies have made clear their intentions to systematically expand this impactful model to North America, demonstrating a clear commitment to global supply chain transformation.
This initiative is a critical component of Henkel’s broader sustainability agenda, which includes concrete climate commitments to achieve a 30% reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2030 and a near-total 90% reduction by 2045. Concurrently, it supports Dow’s corporate strategy to grow its business while actively decarbonizing its operations, making it a symbiotic and mutually beneficial alliance for sustainable chemical manufacturing.
To share their progress and inspire further industry action, Henkel and Dow are set to jointly host a Transformation Talk at the prestigious K2025 trade fair in Düsseldorf, Germany—the world’s leading exhibition for the plastics and rubber industry.
The session, titled “Success story: Reducing product carbon footprint in practice,” is scheduled for October 9 at 14:00 CET. It will be hosted at the Dow booth. This public forum will provide an in-depth exploration of how cross-value chain partnerships can effectively enable and scale climate solutions across industrial applications.
The presentation will serve as a practical case study, illustrating how the partnership successfully mapped, measured, and subsequently reduced the carbon footprint of their adhesive products. The K-show platform will allow thousands of industry professionals to learn from this innovative model, potentially triggering similar decarbonisation efforts across other chemical and material supply chains.
This strategic partnership is a leading example of a broader series of sustainability activations from Henkel, underscoring its role as a pioneer of innovation, collaboration, and climate leadership in the global adhesives and chemical industry. By leveraging low-carbon feedstocks and renewable power, Henkel and Dow are actively creating a more sustainable future for the materials that hold the modern world together.
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Tags: decarbonization adhesives, hot melt adhesive, low-carbon feedstocks, packaging adhesives, product carbon footprint reduction
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