Reducing our carbon footprint
Reducing our carbon footprint
We recognize that climate change could have a deep impact on the global environment, society, and economic systems, and we aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions along our value chain.
As the transition to a net zero carbon economy accelerates, we continue to raise the bar on how we can reduce climate-related impact, mitigate risks and seize growth opportunities. In support of the objectives of the UN’s Paris Agreement on climate change, we have significantly reduced our emissions over the last decade and are committed to reaching our target of reducing carbon emissions from our operations and energy use by 25 percent between 2020 and 2025. We also aim to increase the share of low carbon and renewable energy to more than 60 percent by 2025.
Our focus is on further reducing carbon emissions from our operations and energy use (scope 1 & 2) while growing revenues. Between 2009 and 2019, we reduced our absolute carbon footprint by 9 percent while growing sales and reduced emissions per ton of product by 29 percent. To continue this journey, we have set the goal to further reduce our carbon footprint by 25 percent between 2020 and 2025 (scope 1 & 2, relative to 2019 levels).
See our environmental data sheet and 2020 sustainability report for more details.
Source: Nouryon 2020 sustainability report
We aim to achieve our emissions reduction target through a wide range of actions, with a focus on energy efficiency measures and increasing our renewable energy usage.
We have a strong drive to embed continuous improvement in manufacturing, energy efficiency and consumption across the supply chain. We track and report our eco-efficiency performance on a quarterly and annual basis using Enablon’s EHS software package. The input is checked and validated twice a year. Since 2009, we have incrementally decreased our energy intensity while also supporting customers’ sustainability ambitions.
For example, our Integrated Manufacturing Model in Brazil provides pulp mill customers with a cost-effective solution to produce bleaching chemicals and creates sustainability benefits. Our facility is powered by renewable energy from biomass generated as a by product in the pulp mills, and proximity to the customer reduces the need to transport products, reducing our carbon footprint, improving safety, and creating a more circular model.
Source: Nouryon 2020 sustainability report
In 2020, 56% of our energy came from low-carbon and renewable sources, such as hydro, wind, solar, biomass for power, and steam from bio-waste. This was a slight increase from the year prior. We have set the goal to further increase the share of our purchased low-carbon and renewable energy to more than 60% by 2025.
For example, we source renewable energy using trusted approaches, such as assets owned by Nouryon, Purchase Power Agreements (PPA) with third parties, or energy attribute certificates backed by recognized industry standards and documentation.
To strengthen our sustainable energy sourcing capabilities, in 2020 we established the Nouryon Energy Team (NET). The NET brings together cross-functional expertise in Energy, Procurement, Operations, and Sustainability to further optimize and develop a comprehensive Energy Management Plan of sustainable and low-carbon energy solutions across the company.
