How can Kraft Heinz Achieve 99% Emissions Cut at 10 Plants?
Multinational food company Kraft Heinz is hoping to kickstart a host of clean energy projects at 10 of its plants in the United States after being selected for award negotiations to receive US$170m.
The money is on offer from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstration to support the implementation of clean energy projects across the nation.
Kraft Heinz’s 10 plants produce various food products and the company hopes the new projects’ technologies can be replicated across a wide range of food and beverage manufacturers.
Delicious Decarbonisation
The US$170m will go towards Kraft Heinz’s ‘The Delicious Decarbonization Through Integrated Electrification and Energy Storage’ project, helping these locations reduce annual emissions by more than 99% from 2022 levels – a significant step forward in the company’s global net-zero ambitions.
“At Kraft Heinz, we’re on a journey to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” said Marcos Eloi Lima, Chief Procurement and Sustainability Officer at Kraft Heinz.
“This investment will give us critical resources to make necessary improvements in our plants to help increase their energy efficiency and reduce emissions.
“This investment recognises our continued efforts to reduce our environmental footprint and we’re eager to get started.”
Heat pumps, biogas boilers and much more
Kraft Heinz will use the funds to install a range of technologies, including heat pumps, electric heaters, electric boilers, anaerobic digesters, biogas boilers, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic and thermal energy storage.
The company anticipates the project will create 500 construction jobs across the 10 sites.
Helen Davis, SVP and Head of North America Operations at Kraft Heinz, said: “The infrastructure changes made at these 10 plants will allow us to replicate successful technologies and processes across our remaining U.S. plants and globally, making us more efficient as we continue to make upgrades to more locations.”
Helen added: “I’m proud of the impact this project and award will have on our facilities, but also on our current and future workforce and the communities that surround our operations.”
Site specific
The 10 sites are at: Champaign, Ill.; Columbia, Mo.; Fremont, Ohio; Holland, Mich.; Kendallville, Ind.; Lowville, N.Y.; Mason City, Iowa; Muscatine, Iowa; New Ulm, Minn. and Winchester, Va.
Kraft Heinz hopes it will achieve the following at the plants:
- Overall energy use after the implementation of energy efficiency measures, electrification and onsite generation will decline by 23% (from 1043 GWh/y to 801 GWh/year)
- Natural gas use will decline by 97%, with the remaining 3% being used for standby equipment
- Total water use will be reduced by 3%.
To develop the application, Kraft Heinz engaged ENGIE Impact, which provides strategic consulting, global reporting and implementation support to organisations on their net-zero journeys.
******
Make sure you check out the latest edition of Sustainability Magazine and also sign up to our global conference series - Sustainability LIVE 2024
******
Sustainability Magazine is a BizClik brand
******
