Climate and energy
Our approach
Emissions are a root cause of climate change. On the one hand, our production processes are dependent on reliable access to energy sources and renewable raw materials (corn). Agriculture – and, thus, the availability of our main raw material – is very vulnerable to climate change. At the same time, our raw materials are a major source of our emissions.
On the other hand, we also have an impact on climate change due to the nature of our business. The fermentation and subsequent downstream processing needed to produce our products require large amounts of heating, i.e. steam produced from natural gas, which in turn leads to considerable emissions. These processes are responsible for the majority of our scope 1 and scope 2 emissions.a Energy-saving measures and projects to increase production efficiency are therefore high on our agenda in order to reduce our emissions. Increased use of energy from renewable sources is another important factor. Energy efficiency targets are set annually for each production line by the Vice President Manufacturing and Technology together with local plant management.
In order to support the energy-saving efforts at all levels of the manufacturing sites, the energy management systems of the production sites in Pernhofen, Ladenburg and Marckolsheim are ISO 50001 certified. In addition, the environmental management system of our Ladenburg site is ISO 14001 certified. Since 2021, the electricity demand for our largest production site in Pernhofen, Austria is covered solely by energy from renewable resources via REGO (renewable energy guarantees of origin) certificates. The same is valid for our production site in Ladenburg, Germany, since 2020.
We see the implementation of a robust energy management system as the foundation to achieve our SBTi target for scope 1 emissions by understanding better our significant energy usages and visualising our energy flows, and thereby identifying efficiently priority projects to reduce CO2 emissions. It further allows a structured and focused approach for energy conservation and education of employees on their roles in saving energy.
In 2022, we have completed major heat recovery projects in Austria, Canada and France, accounting for a reduction of more than 200 GWh/year of our gas consumption at full capacity. In our Austrian site we recover heat and additionally produce chilled water with a system of heat pumps, hot water loop and heat storage tank. In our Canadian site we now recover the heat of vapours from dryers, and in our French site we recover the heat from exhaust gases of a co-generation plant with a hot water loop. We have also started producing renewable electricity with a rooftop photovoltaic system in Germany.
Did you know?
At our production site in Pernhofen, Austria, two large-scale heat pumps have been successfully started up. These heat pumps are able to repurpose enough waste heat from certain production process steps that the use of steam for other process steps is now significantly reduced. In order to optimise utilisation, a large heat storage tank was installed along with a heat distribution network. This project has enabled Jungbunzlauer to reduce emissions by 30,000 mt CO2e per year.
Did you know?
In 2022, 78% of the electricity purchased by Jungbunzlauer was certified renewable.
Our ambition
As a predominantly European company in terms of production sites and sales, Jungbunzlauer supports the European Green Deal, which is a sustainability strategy launched at the end of 2019. Its aim is that the EU will become climate neutral by 2050. We are therefore closely following the associated changes to regulations on the European level and on the national level in Germany, France and Austria.
In line with this, we aim to reduce our GHG emissions significantly and to become carbon neutral by 2050. In 2021, Jungbunzlauer has committed to set near-term company-wide emission reductions in line with climate science with the SBTi (Science Based Target initiative).
End of 2022, our targets are still under evaluation at the SBTi. This process is due to be completed in 2023. Therefore, we will go into more detail about this process and the validation of our targets in next year's report. Nevertheless, several emission-reduction projects have already been evaluated, decided or implemented during 2022. A continuous review process has been implemented and is monitored by our Corporate Sustainability Manager Operations.
Regarding energy use, we aim to further reduce our energy consumption, to replace fossil energy sources by renewable ones and to improve continuously energy efficiency to support our SBTi targets.
Examples of emission-reduction projects implemented in 2022 at our production sites
- Installation of heat pumps in Pernhofen, Austria
- Installation of a hot water loop and heat storage tank in Pernhofen, Austria
- Heat recovery of vapours in production in Port Colborne, Canada
- Heat recovery from exhaust gases of a cogeneration plant with a hot water loop in Marckolsheim, France
- Installation of a photovoltaic system on the warehouse roof in Ladenburg, Germany
- Installation and/or optimisation of additional heat recovery systems in all production plants
- Additional insulation of buildings and plant equipment
- Installation of additional frequency converters for improved use of power
- Savings in transportation through logistics optimisation
Key measures and evaluation
Our investments in numerous energy-saving programmes have resulted in a substantial reduction in energy consumption per unit of production.
We are also continuously working on minimising GHG emissions by our factories.
Corporate carbon footprint (CCF)
Targets 2022
Continued reduction of our CCF emissions in line with our near-term science-based targets (validation process will be completed during 2023)
Progress and achievements 2022
CCF (absolute emissions in mt CO2e) was reduced by 21% between 2020 and 2022 as a result of heat recovery projects and renewable power sourcing in our plants despite business activity growth
Product carbon footprints (PCFs)
Targets 2022
Continued reduction of all PCFs
Progress and achievements 2022
For all products for which we calculate the PCF, it was successfully reduced between 2013 and 2022
Emission reduction projects at our production sites
Targets 2022
Reduce emissions by implementing individual projects at our four production sites
Progress and achievements 2022
- Emissions reduction projects have been identified and implemented
- Project plan for further emission reductions was updated
Energy consumption within the company
Targets 2022
Implement energy reporting according to GRI 302-1
Progress and achievements 2022
- Reporting of energy consumption in line with GRI Standards completed
- Energy-saving projects have been identified and implemented
Energy intensity
Targets 2022
Implement energy reporting according to GRI 302-3
Progress and achievements 2022
Reporting of energy intensity in line with GRI Standards completed
Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF)
The higher CCF intensity recorded for 2020 can be explained by a higher emission factor for gas (scope 1) and electricity (scope 2) as well as a new methodo-logy in regard to wastewater treatment, leading to significantly higher emissions.
2020 was an extraordinary year in many ways. The COVID-19 pandemic lead to an excessive demand of our products. We thus increased manufacturing to the highest amount possible, at the expanse of running our plants in the most efficient way, sacrificing the optimisation of our carbon foot print.
We were able to reverse this trend and can report a reduction of 28% for our CCF 2021 compared to 2020.
Total CCF per mt of final product
including by-products and glucose produced
Development of Jungbunzlauer's global CCF intensity.
In accordance with the GHG Protocol, this includes all direct GHG emissions stemming from sources that are owned or controlled by Jungbunzlauer (scope 1) and indirect GHG emissions created during the generation of purchased energy consumed by Jungbunzlauer (scope 2). Scope 3 emissions are not included in our CCF intensity calculations. Emissions are reported as CO2 equivalents, covering CO2, CH4, N2O, HFC-23, HFC-134a and SF6.
Product Carbon Footprint (PCF)
In 2013, we evaluated the PCF for most of our main products for the first time. Compared to this baseline, we have reduced the PCF per metric tonne of final product in all of our product categories.
For example, the PCF of citric acid produced in Austria was reduced by 43% between 2013 and 2022 and that of xanthan gum was reduced by 35%. A reduction of 40% was achieved for trisodium citrate produced in Austria, and the PCFs for erythritol and lactic acid were reduced by 28% and 26%, respectively.
For more accuracy, the PCFs for the main products of our range of CITROFOL® esters and different special salts have been assessed as individual products since 2020, not as a group of products. Since the values can therefore not be directly compared between 2013 and 2022.
Development of PCFs for selected Jungbunzlauer products from 2013 to 2022
Development of absolute scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions
Scope 1 and 2 emissions have significantly decreased in 2022 compared to 2020 mainly due to heat recovery projects as well as renewable power sourcing in Austria and Germany, and this despite significant business activity growth, especially between 2020 and 2021. Scope 3 emissions have increased slightly, mainly due to business activity growth.
Development of Jungbunzlauer's global absolute scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. In accordance with the GHG Protocol, this includes all direct GHG emissions stemming from sources that are owned or controlled by Jungbunzlauer (scope 1), indirect GHG emissions created during the generation of purchased energy consumed by Jungbunzlauer (scope 2), and emissions generated in Jungbunzlauer's supply chain (scope 3). Scope 3 emissions are calculated according to miminum boundary rules. Emissions from processing, use and end-of-life treatment of sold products are excluded due to inability to reasonably estimate the downstream emissions associated with the various end uses of Jungbunzlauer's products. Emissions are reported as CO2 equivalents, covering CO2, CH4, N2O, HFC-23, HFC-134a and SF6.
Outlook
We strive to further reduce our emissions and energy consumption by implementing decarbonisation technologies and improving continuously our energy efficiency.
In 2023, like it was the case in 2022 and 2021, 100% of the power purchased by our production sites in Austria and Germany will be certified renewable. Furthermore, we will start producing renewable electricity with a rooftop photovoltaic system in our production site in Pernhofen, Austria. Besides this, we aim to start the construction of a 40 MWp free-field photovoltaic installation next to our Austrian site.
Going forward, one of the key challenges will be growing our capacity and output in many product areas and extending our offering while at the same time further reducing emissions in absolute terms. To tackle this challenge, Jungbunzlauer will continue to invest in state-of-the-art process technology, innovate for products and processes that conserve resources and provide enhanced value, seek opportunities to evaluate new environmental control technologies, and encourage employees to be active in protecting our environment.
We aim to achieve ISO 50001 certification for energy management for all four of our production sites by 2024. We will continue to monitor our CCF and PCFs on a yearly basis.
Decarbonisation projects planned for 2023
- In-house renewable power production by photovoltaic systems
- Electrification of steam intensive process steps
- Additional waste heat recovery projects
SBTi targets
- Jungbunzlauer International AG commits to reduce absolute scope 1 and scope 2 GHG emissions by 25% until 2030 from a 2020 base year
- Jungbunzlauer International AG also commits to reduce absolute scope 3 GHG emissions from fuel- and energy-related activities and upstream transportation and distribution by 12.3% within the same time frame
- Jungbunzlauer International AG further commits that 70% of its suppliers by emissions covering purchased goods and services, will have science-based targets by 2026
