In the Sustainability Report 2024, the Group strengthens its commitment to supply chain, recycling, green mobility technologies, and training in 21 countries.
Italy’s UFI, a global leader in filtration and thermal management solutions for hybrid and electric vehicles as well as green hydrogen technologies, presents its Sustainability Report 2024. The document is a key transparency and reporting tool for the group, prepared according to Global Reporting Initiative Standards (GRI) then certified by a third party, confirming its active role in the sustainable transformation of the industry.
Toward Ecological Transition: UFI’s commitment to a sustainable future
With 22 production sites in 21 countries and more than 4,300 employees, UFI addresses the ecological transition with concrete results and a vision centred on innovation, environmental impact mitigation, high quality standards, and human capital growth. An integrated approach that involves the entire value chain – from design to production, innovation to governance, and people – to drive the industry’s transition to positive-impact models, prioritizing energy efficiency, recycling, and emissions reduction.
Increased focus on emissions and engagement on a global scale
For the first time, UFI conducted a dual materiality survey, compliant with the European Sustainabilty Reporting Standards (ESRS), assessing both the impacts of its activities and the financial consequences.
In 2024, UFI achieved a 21% reduction in direct Scope 1 emissions through actions on gas, fuel, and refrigerant gas use. There is also an increasing focus and commitment on different emission indices and the use of renewables in the different countries in which it operates, in order to undertake a next group-wide roadmap.
Among other actions:
- 5% improvement in the Energy Intensity Index
- – 12% in electricity consumption in the APAC region
- Commitment toward the use of renewable energy, e.g., more than 500,000 kWh self-generated through photovoltaic plants in India
- New photovoltaic plants planned in China and the Czech Republic
- 3,252 MWh purchased in green energy certificates (RECs)
- Hazardous waste recycling more than doubled from 2023 to 331.60 tons (or 5.2% of total recycled waste, up from 2.8% in the previous year).
With the goal of an integrated approach, the report also includes for the first time, Scope 3 emissions – transportation category, with an analysis by logistics mode to also focus on value chain sustainability.
Innovation and sustainable development: from hydrogen to electric
For UFI, innovation is not a stand-alone activity, but a long-term duty: not only to anticipate market demands, but to create solutions that meet major global environmental challenges.
The Sustainability Report 2024 highlights the group’s key technological assets and investments: from the patented FormulaUFI high-performance and long-lasting filter media to the new Thermal Management business unit, which provides systems for electric and hybrid vehicles, to the development of the green hydrogen supply chain with the new dedicated UFI Hydrogen company.
A concrete example of this approach is the continued investment in the patented filter media of the FormulaUFI family, developed in-house to ensure high performance (pressure, flow rate, durability) while reducing the number of replacements, lengthening vehicle service intervals, and decreasing CO₂ emissions over the product life cycle.
This also includes the UFI GREEN project, the Group’s first industrial plant in China entirely dedicated to sustainable technologies. Inaugurated in 2023 in Jiaxing and just coming to celebrate its first anniversary, UFI GREEN represented a €45 million investment for the Group, resulting in the construction of a 42,000 m² plant covered by photovoltaic panels for an estimated annual output of more than 1 million kWh. Here UFI produces advanced thermal management systems for batteries and filtration components intended for electric and zero-emission mobility. A second phase will see the establishment, in a joint venture with Sinopec, of a production line dedicated to membranes for the production and use of green hydrogen.
In 2024, UFI accelerated the industrialization of the UFI Hydrogen division, focused on advanced membranes for the entire hydrogen supply chain: from production through electrolyzers, to conversion to energy with fuel cells, to E-fuels and storage and transport management.
With a dedicated plant, specialized teams and expertise gained in materials science, separation dynamics and precision manufacturing, UFI Hydrogen represents a strategic step in the group’s transition to sustainable innovation platforms applicable to multiple sectors.
Finally, innovation also comes from improved production processes: from reducing energy consumption at industrial sites to adopting digital systems to increase efficiency and reduce error margins, with an integrated network of R&D, engineering, quality and environmental teams working in synergy to spread a culture of continuous innovation.
People at the heart of the strategy
Human capital is the driving force behind UFI’s transformation: more than 45,000 hours of training were provided in 2024, up from the previous year.
Great attention was paid to development paths: 1,213 employees were involved in Personal Business Plans (PBPs), individual projects for professional growth.
The promotion of generational and cultural diversity and internal growth remain pillars of the UFI identity, which operates with a truly global vision.
“Sustainability for us is not an option, but a responsibility. We need to create technologies that build a better future, for people and for the planet,” says Giorgio Girondi, President of UFI. “In a fast-changing world, we don’t just chase trends: we invest in what we believe in. We innovate to meet industrial and environmental challenges with concrete solutions that generate real and lasting value. From hydrogen to electric, from filtration to thermal management, every choice we make stems from a clear vision and translates into tangible impact. But the real transformation is not only technological: it is cultural, and it is made by people. We are a reality made up of men and women who share the same purpose and build together the future we want.”
“The Sustainability Report 2024 is the first with dual materiality investigation,” adds Stefano Gava, CEO of UFI. “Sustainability for UFI is a lever that guides decisions and translates into a commitment to the creation of a long-term plan that permeates every function and every strategic choice of the group. A concrete, transversal and shared approach that is nourished by the expertise of our people and the willingness to turn every goal into daily practice.”
The report is available in the dedicated section of the official website:
