In its more than 75 years in the Argentine market, Rheem has always been characterized by being at the forefront in the manufacturing of its products.cough and in their relationship with the community. In recent years, its concern for caring for the environment and social responsibility has intensified and this year, with obtaining the first ALPA certified seal, it positioned itself as one of the few heavy manufacturing industries in Argentina that is moving towards carbon neutrality.

“In 2021 we began the preparation by informing ourselves of the steps to follow and what we needed to mitigate as much as possible the greenhouse gases that we generate in the manufacturing process of hot water tanks and other areas of the company,” explained Marcelo Olivera. “We trained staff transversally, made the first investments in technologies, began to implement internal policies and completed the first stage with certification through the NGO that regulates and measures the Carbon Footprint indices. In the future, what is not directly mitigated will be compensated with the investment we will make and will result in obtaining Green Bonds, which will be reinvested in the generation of forests, lakes or renewable energies. In this first stage we promote projects carried out by RAMCC, such as the contribution to the Municipality of San Luis of 40% of the cost of the first stage, which was destined to the purchase of tricycles for urban recycling.

Rheem works with the Argentine Network of Municipalities against Climate Change (RAMCC), one of the NGOs that carries out the measurements expressed in the ALPA Carbon Footprint Seal, which with international validity evaluates the requirements to achieve carbon neutrality based on ISO 14,064, divided into three stages. The first of the measurements has already been surpassed; The second takes into account the compensations between the emission of GHGs and the mitigation measures and the last will be the obtaining of Green Bonds.

“We have an effluent treatment plant and we apply a circular economy system,” Olivera explained. "All the SCRAP (Collective Systems of Extended Responsibility of the Waste Producer) generated is recycled and sold to other industries as raw material, such as scrap from cuts and discarded sheet metal that is recycled and sold to large steel mills. The same with cardboard and wood and something similar with hazardous waste such as powder paints, which are used in the Durlock industry. Those that are not, are calcined and the ashes are disposed of as inert material, "which generates gases and has an associated cost. We transform these pollutants through the application of the circular economy, which allows us to reinvest in goods that reduce the emission of greenhouse gases." To reach the first step towards Carbon Neutrality, Rheem's Environmental area had to deal with complex calculations, such as analyzing the gas consumption of a car lift, a blast furnace, and the monthly electricity bill. They are also working on energy management to reduce GHG generation.

“We are analyzing which are the sources of greatest GHG generation on which we can act and we attack them,” Olivera concluded. "Rheem does not generate any gas or waste of environmental impact that violates current legislation, either through the Municipality of San Luis or what is dictated by the National Environmental Law in its desire to take care of the planet without neglecting efforts. Carbon neutrality is already a tangible, advanced and sensitive project in its magnificent avant-garde and committed trajectory."