How ethical is Baxi?
Our research highlights several ethical issues with the Baxi brand, its owner BDR Thermea, and their ultimate parent company Remeha Group, including a lack of policies on conflict minerals and inadequate climate targets.
Below we outline some of these issues. To see the full detailed stories, and Baxi’s overall ethical rating, please sign in or subscribe.
Lagging behind on climate transition
Ethical Consumer found major flaws in BDR Thermea’s climate plans.
We reviewed its 2024 annual report when we rated the company in 2025, and found that it did not give evidence of reducing its main climate impacts in line with international agreements to reach net zero by 2050. Nor did it appear to have set a future target in line with these international goals across its supply chain.
In 2022, the advocacy groups European Environmental Bureau and Coolproducts assessed Baxi’s owner BDR Thermea alongside a number of other companies, based on their commitment to the renewable heating transition in Europe. Buildings were responsible for about 40% of the EU’s total energy consumption, and for 36% of its greenhouse gas emissions, the report noted, making changes to heating systems crucial for meeting climate targets.
BDR Thermea was classed as a “laggard” compared to other companies: it sold heating systems that run on fossil fuels, did not plan to stop the sale of these until required to by law, and did not support changes in policies, such as the end to subsidies for fossil fuel heating systems.
Baxi and BDR Thermea scored poorly in Ethical Consumer’s climate rating overall.
No action on conflict minerals
Conflict minerals such as gold and tin are vital metals used in all electronic systems. However, their extraction has been linked to artisanal mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where workers face horrendous rights violations. Some of the mines are controlled by armed militia and the sale of these minerals has been used to fund a lethal civil war in the country.
Leading companies have policies in place to buy minerals from conflict-free companies in the region. This means that their money is not contributing to war, while also ensuring that they do remove a vital income source from an already extremely poor nation.
However, Baxi and BDR Thermea did not appear to have taken any action to tackle the issue – meaning they scored poorly in Ethical Consumer’s conflict minerals rating overall.
No evidence of tax avoidance
The owner of Baxi and BDR Thermea, Remeha Group B.V, is headquartered in the Netherlands, a known tax haven. However, the firm clearly serves the country’s local population, running an electrical company there.
No other high risk companies in tax havens were found, and BDR Thermea and Baxi received Ethical Consumer's best score in its tax conduct rating.