Koehler Group Publishes Fifth Sustainability Report: Company Advances 2030 Strategy Despite Challenging Market Conditions

Koehler Holding SE & Co. KG (the "Koehler Group"), a family-owned specialty paper manufacturer with nearly 220 years of history, today published its fifth annual Sustainability Report, detailing progress on its 2030 Sustainability Strategy, key business developments, and lessons learned during a difficult economic year.

"We are living in turbulent times, which is why the things that make us special as a family business are absolutely crucial right now: cohesion, determination, and the courage to think in generations," said Kai Furler, CEO of the Koehler Group.

Business at a Glance

• Revenue: €1,059,351 thousand in 2025, down from €1,091,235 thousand in 2024 and €1,143,309 thousand in 2023

• Paper sold: 502,168 tons in 2025, up from 490,889 tons in 2024 and 480,651 tons in 2023

• Workforce: 2,512 employees in 2025 (2,514 in 2024; 2,464 in 2023)

• Revenue by geography: Germany 34.6% (33.8% in 2024), European Union 29.7% (29.2% in 2024), other countries 35.7% (37% in 2024)

• Global footprint: Production and logistics sites across Germany, the United States, England, Scotland, Italy, France, and China, with products sold in 101 countries worldwide

• Renewable power fed into the public grid: 357,647 MWh in 2025, up from 270,886 MWh in 2024

• Steam supplied to nearby industrial customers from renewable fuels: 197,042 tons in 2025, down from 226,823 tons in 2024

Leadership Update

At the start of 2026, Philipp Prechtl joined the Koehler Group Executive Board as its new Chief Strategy Officer, while continuing as Managing Director of Koehler Innovative Solutions. The move formally embeds sustainability, innovation, and digital transformation at the Executive Board level. The Board now comprises Kai Furler (CEO), Frank Lendowski (CFO), Philipp Prechtl (CSO), and Dr. Stefan Karrer (COO).

Key 2025 Milestones

• Langer Wald wind farm connected to the grid, advancing the Group's goal of generating more renewable energy than it consumes for paper production by 2030

• Acquisition of logistics company Klumpp + Müller (December 2025), based at the port of Kehl, securing pulp logistics for the Group's value chain

• Koehler Group Paper Campus inaugurated at company headquarters in Oberkirch — a second training center for apprentices

• Topping-out ceremony for the company's new children's daycare center (the Gretel Furler daycare center) in Oberkirch, with the first children already attending an interim facility

• Continued growth of NexFlex® flexible packaging paper, produced on the Group's Production Line 8 in Kehl, with customers such as supermarket chain Norma

• Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) validation of the Group's climate targets, confirming alignment with limiting global warming to 1.5°C

• EcoVadis Platinum rating for the second consecutive time, with a score of 91/100 — placing Koehler in the top 1% of rated companies globally

• Business Medal of the State of Baden-Württemberg, awarded in recognition of the company's economic contributions

Progress Against the 2030 Sustainability Strategy

The report tracks performance across six Areas of Action, with mixed results for 2025:

Targets met or exceeded:

• 100% of virgin fibers now sourced from sustainable forestry or controlled sources (2030 target already achieved)

• 91% of fibers FSC®- or PEFC-certified, exceeding the ≥90% 2030 target

• 86–87% of raw materials of renewable or mineral origin, ahead of the >85% annual goal

• 73% of purchasing volume from suppliers meeting EcoVadis or equivalent Supplier Code of Conduct standards, versus a 50% target

• Direct emissions per MWh of electricity generated cut by 82%, surpassing the 80% 2030 target

• Combined scope 1 and scope 2 emissions reduced 62% against a 60% annual target

• Scope 3 emissions reduced approximately 8% (provisional), against a 5% annual target

• Renewable energy production reached 112% of electricity needs and 92% of heat needs (98.6% combined), against an annual target of 88%, moving toward full "Koehler Promise" achievement by 2030

• Apprenticeship rate of 4.5% (target: ≥4%); average 28.7 hours of professional development per employee (target: 25 hours); 79.3% of leadership positions filled internally (target: 62.5%); 24% patent usage rate (target: 18%)

• 39 active sustainability partnerships, versus a target of 20

• Complaint rate held to 0.32%, within the <0.5% target

Areas that fell short in 2025:

• Resource-efficiency indicators — raw and auxiliary material use per square meter of paper (up 0.4% instead of down 5%), whole-plant fuel utilization (down 2.5%), and the environmental performance indicator (down 3%) — all missed targets, driven largely by lower machine and power-plant utilization

• Workplace safety metrics: Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) of 2.68 versus a target of ≤1.53, and average absence duration after an accident of 78.8 days versus a target of ≤37.6 days, prompting the creation of a dedicated Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) department

• Employee-initiated fluctuation rate of 2.5%, slightly above the ≤2.3% target

• Paper sales volume, cogeneration, and revenue targets were not fully met, reflecting broader economic headwinds, high German industrial electricity prices, and increasingly complex EU regulation (including the EU Deforestation Regulation and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation)

Looking Ahead

The Koehler Group has introduced complementary "2027 Goals" across four areas — culture, leadership and organization; markets and customers; development and production; and efficiency and processes — to guide near-term priorities alongside its longer-term 2030 Sustainability Strategy. The company also confirmed it is preparing for mandatory reporting under the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), expected to apply to its 2027 financial year.

"We are disclosing where we stand, what kind of progress we have made, and what challenges we are encountering," Furler said of the Group's approach to transparent reporting.