Renewable energy

Reducing the carbon footprint of our products

We are committed to achieving our goal of becoming one of the most sustainable chemical companies in Europe. Energy is the main area where CO₂ emissions can be reduced. We focus on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the share of renewable energy and becoming more energy efficient. The use of renewable energy significantly reduces the carbon footprint of our products. This way, we can make a significant contribution to reducing our customers' carbon footprint with our low-carbon products and by using our own combined heat and power plants to serve our customers located nearby.

Energy efficiency is key

We strive for maximum energy efficiency at all our production sites by continuously optimizing our energy use in our processes. We do this by, among other things, reusing residual heat, state of the art manufacturing, and continually updating our energy efficiency program. We are optimizing the use of renewable energy by reducing load when there is little or no solar/wind and increasing load when solar/wind power generation is abundant. By producing more flexibly, we can increase or decrease the amount of electricity we use. In this way, we can help stabilize the grid and better balance supply and demand. Other important opportunities lie in the further electrification of our production processes and in promoting the storage of renewable energy in salt caverns.

Increasing our renewable energy share

Since 1990 we have increased our share of renewable energy to more than 40% in 2023. Our targets are even more ambitious. By 2040, we aim to use 100% renewable energy. This is how we Grow Greener Together. In our sustainability reports you can see what we have done so far, along with our plans to go further, or read more about our energy projects and other sustainability initiatives and achievements. You can also see our case studies.

Use of renewable energy

We work continuously to become more efficient by reusing energy streams from both our own production processes and those of our customers. Steam is purchased from waste incinerators and biomass plants. Additionally we are installing e-boilers to electrify steam production and using heat pumps (MVR (mechanical vapour recompression) for salt production. Although we produce large quantities of steam and electricity in our own combined heat and power plants for our own plants, we also procure large amounts of energy from third parties.