How sustainable is Hahnemühle actually?

Clean water, natural fibres, first-rate expertise in the art of paper production and absolute commitment to quality have formed the foundation of our success for over 435 years. In our business, we feel we have a certain duty towards the environment. For many years, we have been supporting both regional and international environmental projects as part of our Green Rooster initiative, including reforestation, animal protection and environmental education programmes. These projects are very important to us and we’re delighted to be able to use a share of the profits from our sustainable papers to contribute towards environmental and climate protection.

Our sustainability measures are based on various pillars and are constantly being expanded. Environmental awareness plays a particularly important role at our production site. We live our motto “Protect what matters” on a daily basis.

Sustainability also plays a key role at our production site. Hahnemühle is located at the edge of a nature reserve. As such, environmentally friendly paper production is a high priority. Using precious resources such as water, fibres and energy sparingly and responsibly is a matter of course for us.

The water we use to produce our high-quality FineArt papers comes straight from the source and is set apart by its particularly high level of purity, meaning it doesn’t need to be chemically treated at all. Even at the end of the production cycle, the wastewater has been not contaminated with pollutants and is returned to the river as high-quality water.

Our fibres are sourced exclusively from primary fibres. One key factor here is the lignin-free cellulose we use, sourced from deciduous and coniferous trees that grow in sustainably managed forests and are FSC- or PEFC-certified. The types of linters also play an essential role. Linters are fine fibres framing the seed of the cotton plant, which occur as a by-product of the textile and oil industries. We also have our sights set on finding fast-growing, renewable cellulose alternatives that help to conserve resources.

We use electricity and natural gas as our energy sources. For many years now, all the electricity we need has been generated exclusively from renewable sources, such as wind, water and solar energy. This enables us to sustainably reduce our CO₂ emissions. We heat our site using natural gas. Due to our waste heat recovery system, the emissions from our furnace are considerably below the legal limits, by more than 40%.

Another key element of sustainable resource management is recycling. Any production waste or scrap materials are returned to the production cycle and, if that isn’t possible, they are handed over to other waste processors. We always give priority to recycled material as long as it can be used in our products without reducing their quality, for instance, in thimbles and cardboard packaging.

We are proud of what we have achieved so far and are constantly working towards putting further measures in place and finding more environmentally friendly and sustainable ways to run our business. Our proximity to the natural world provides a daily reminder of what we need to protect. For us, this is both a responsibility and an incentive.

Good to know: There are no animal or genetically modified ingredients in Hahnemühle papers. Our “Certificate of Conformity” confirms this. All papers are vegan. Hahnemühle fulfils this criterion when it comes to glue. We have been sustainable and pioneers in this field for a long time: we use exclusively synthetic glues and have been doing so since the 1970s. To explain: glue is in every paper. It binds the fibres (cotton linters or cellulose) and makes the paper paintable.

Hahnemühle Papers are all vegan

Learn more on our artist paper manufacturing here.