Anne Windberg Baarup will help Continental lead on sustainability

HANOVER, Germany—With her extensive materials expertise, Anne Windberg Baarup has been named head of sustainability for Continental's Industrial Business.

Baarup took the post June 1.

"Anne Windberg Baarup will further develop our strategic priorities and activities in the area of sustainability and ensure their global implementation," said Claus Peter Spille, head of operations at ContiTech. "Her experience and knowledge in the field of materials ensure that we will continue to develop sustainable material solutions for the various environmental challenges of our customers, industries and markets."

For Continental Industrial application engineers, that means selecting the right materials, putting together recyclable material mixtures and ultimately replacing conventional materials and manufacturing products in an environmentally friendly way.

"In Anne Windberg Baarup, we have found exactly the right person for the job," Spille said.

Baarup, 46, who has been with Continental for eight years, will report directly to Spille.

She previously worked in HR and organizational development with Continental, and most recently served as head of Material Technology Solutions for Continental's tire business, where she actively promoted research into and implementation of sustainable materials.

"By 2030, 35 percent of all products for the industrial business will be made from sustainable materials," added Philip Nelles, member of Conti's Executive Board for the ContiTech group sector.

In addition, Baarup will look to drive sustainability at ContiTech production facilities worldwide, with "ambitious goals and concrete steps."

ContiTech highlights bio-based and recycled materials as likely successors to conventional materials.

"We have set ourselves the goal of manufacturing all our products based entirely on sustainable materials by 2050 at the latest," Nelles said. "To achieve this goal step by step, we will increase the proportion of sustainable materials in our products to 35 percent by the end of 2030.

"We are thus consistently continuing on our course and underscoring our commitment to a future-oriented circular economy."

ContiTech already uses artificial leather skai VyP Coffee, made from coffee grounds to produce breathable upholstery fabrics.

ContiTech has made additional advancements in air springs to reduce the CO2 footprint; and the company uses sustainable natural rubber, bio-based oils and plasticizers as well as recycled steel bead wires.

Continental has announced partnerships with start-ups and university groups from the Innovation Network for Advanced Materials to find a rubber alternative that can replace the fossil-based material in the air bellow for air suspension systems in buses, trucks and trains.

The overall Continental Group saw sales of about $45 billion last year.