Taking action to reduce our scope 1 and 2 footprint

Although most of our emissions come from our supply chain, our efforts to reduce carbon emissions in our operations are also critical for reaching our SBTi reduction target. We have the most control over the emissions that happen in our own operations (scope 1) and that relate to energy we purchase (scope 2).

Our targets

  • Use zero coal and fuel oil in our operations.
  • Increase renewable energy use in our operations.

 

Our approach

Nutreco’s emissions reduction plan covers four main levers:

1. Organisational changes

The company has designed a program of decarbonisation, energy efficiency, manure emission reduction and green electricity sourcing to help realise its reduction targets. Colleagues in areas such as Operations, Sustainability and Operational Excellence, whose work impacts greenhouse gas emissions, have been grouped together to support the business in creating improvement plans.

2. Clear reduction plans

In the second half of 2023, the company created a concrete plan for every Business Unit, Operating Company and plant on how to reduce emissions in 2024 and is now implementing these initiatives. To further incentivise employees towards emissions reduction, the company also added scope 1 and 2 emissions to the short-term performance targets for its teams and has started tracking performance in a quarterly update, with clear follow-ups when targets are not met.

3. Sustainability Capex program

Nutreco’s Management Board took the decision to create a Capex fund solely allocated to the reduction of emissions. This will enable the company to make sustainability Capex investments that may not meet the normal financial thresholds because, for example, the payback time is too long. Nutreco has also mandated that, when equipment needs replacing, it is mandatory to replace it with electric instead of fossil-fuelled equipment whenever feasible. In 2024, the company is investing €10 million in this fund and will continue to invest this amount in each of the coming years.

4. Engineering analysis for net zero factories

Nutreco also performed an engineering analysis in 2023 to determine how to build new factories with (net) zero emissions and is using that as the standard for all new factories to be built.

Energy efficiency

Our preferred approach to reducing emissions in our operations is always to improve energy efficiency, because it results in absolute emissions reduction while also bringing financial benefits to our business. In 2022, we invested in a Nutreco-wide approach to operational excellence, setting up teams across our business that work to identify opportunities and deploy projects to realise benefits. Our focus is on delivering results in efficiency and production volume by developing our operational maturity and our people’s competency.

In 2023, we started 77 sustainability projects, delivering a reduction of more than 73,594,893 kWh and 8,104 MT of CO2.

Our progress

We saw an overall 2,5% increase in scope 1 and 2 emissions in 2023. This latest result was due to both a decrease in energy efficiency (CO2 per ton produced) and an increase in sold tons.

See the chart for more information.

Topics

Climate and footprint scope 1 & 2
Our scope 3 emissions
Responsible, novel and circular sourcing
Deforestation-free soy and palm oil
Novel ingredients
Circular feed
Sustainable marine ingredients