Emissions

Our approach

Man-made greenhouse gases (GHG) are a major contributing factor towards global warming, a key challenge of the 21st century. The main source of Jungbunzlauer’s GHG emissions is our product manufacturing process. Our production process requires water and energy, which generates direct (scope 1) and indirect (scope 2) emissionsa. For our corporate carbon footprint (CCF) we consider the scope 1 and scope 2 emissions of the whole Jungbunzlauer Group, scope 3 emissions are not included in our CCF, since this has no direct influence on our production.

In addition, we regularly assess the individual product carbon footprints (PCFs) of our seven major product groups in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the specific emissions related to each product. Our PCFs consider all emissions within the boundaries from cradle-to-gate. This means, that scope 1 and 2 emissions as well as upstream scope 3 emissions, which occur during the life of a product until it reaches our factory gate, are included.

All of our production facilities have implemented an Environmental Management System (EMS) based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act principles. Following a risk assessment, several Significant Environmental Aspects (SEAs) concerning environmental performance with respect to emissions, energy use, waste generation and recycling are defined. The SEAs are then used to assess and track changes in environmental outputs (e.g. GHG emissions).

Coordination of emission data collection as well as reduction measures is done by our Group Sustainability Manager Operations. Additionally there is a Health, Safety and Environmental Manager in every plant.

a 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 generated by purchased electricity consumed by Jungbunzlauer (scope 2).

Our ambition

We aim to reduce our GHG emissions significantly and to become carbon neutral by 2050. In 2021, Jungbunzlauer committed to SBTi (Science Based Target initiative) in order to set ambitious and science-based targets. We will work on the validation of our targets for the next year. More details on our SBTi targets can be found on page 49.

In order to keep track of our emissions and our efforts to reduce GHG emissions, and to determine, evaluate and communicate the carbon footprint of our products, we perform a regular assessment of our scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissionsb. We calculate our CCF on an annual basis (since 2014).

Our 2021 CCF (mt CO2e/mt final product incl. by-products) was reduced by 34% compared to 2013 and by 28% compared to 2020.

Since 2021 we assess our PCFs yearly to monitor our emission reduction progress more closely.

Footprint calculations are performed in accordance with ISO standard 14040/44 and the GHG Protocol by our internal specialists and experts from Stiftung myclimate, an independent non-profit organisation with extensive experience in lifecycle assessments.

b Emissions are reported in CO2 equivalents. Included in the calculation are the following gases: CO2, CH4, N2O, HFC-23, HFC-134a, and SF6.

Emission reduction projects implemented in 2021 in our production sites

  • Renewable energy is purchased in Pernhofen, Austria and Ladenburg, Germany 

  • Reduction of use of steam in Port Colborne, Canada  Installation and/or optimisation of additional heat recovery systems in all production plants 

  • Energy savings by optimisation of energy management in Port Colborne, Canada 

  • Additional insulation of buildings and plant equipment lead to energy savings 

  • Installation of more energy efficient lighting

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 also work continuously on minimising GHG emitted by our factories.

Measures Targets 2021 Progress and achievements 2021
Corporate carbon footprint Continued reduction of our CCF emissions in line with our SBTi targets Reduction of CCF (mt CO2e/mt final product incl. by-products) by 34% between 2013 and 2021 as a result of company-wide energy-saving programmes, water-saving projects and improved production processes at our plants
Product carbon footprint Continued reduction of all PCFs For all products for which we calculate the PCF, a reduction of PCF was achieved between 2020 and 2021
Management of emission evaluation Improvement of data collection in production plants and better coordination and communication of emission reduction projects

Data collection tool for emissions extended production sites
Improvement of data collection by using the data collection tool
Emission reduction projects in production sites Achieve emission reductions by implementation of individual projects in our four production sites

Emission and energy-saving projects have been identified and implemented
Project plan for further emission reduction was updated

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

incl. by-products and glucose

mt CO2e/mt

Development of CCF intensity for Jungbunzlauer global. 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 generated by purchased electricity consumed by Jungbunzlauer (scope 2). Scope 3 emissions are not included in our CCF calculation. Emissions are reported in CO2 equivalents, which include 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 ton of final product in all of our product categories.

Further reductions were achieved in all product categories between 2020 and 2021. The PCF of citric acid, produced in Austria, was reduced by 43% in the period from 2013 and 2021 and the PCF of xanthan gum was reduced in the same period by 31%. A reduction of 36% was achieved for trisodium citrate produced in Austria, the PCFs for erythritol and lactic acid were reduced by 32% and 30%, respectively.

For more accuracy, since 2020, PCFs for our range of CITROFOL® esters and our different special salts, were assessed as individual products, not as a group of products anymore. Since the values can thus not be directly compared between 2013 and 2021, these PCFs are not included in above graph.

Development of PCFs for selected Jungbunzlauer products from 2013 to 2021.
System Boundary: cradle-to-gate
Functional unit: 1 mt of product, at factory gate
Impact assessment: Global Warming Potential (GWP), IPCC 2013,100a
Data sources: primary data measured by Jungbunzlauer, secondary data retrieved from ecoinvent V3.6
Allocation: economic allocation

Outlook

By implementing new technologies and measures, we still strive to further reduce our emissions.

Going forward, one of the key challenges will be to grow our capacity in many product areas and extend our offering while at the same time further reducing future emissions per ton of product manufactured. To tackle this challenge Jungbunzlauer will continue to invest in state-of-the-art process technology, innovate for safer 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 will continue to evaluate our CCF on a yearly basis. From 2021 onwoards, we will assess our PCFs annually.

To underline the importance of our aspiration to further reduce GHG emissions, Jungbunzlauer committed to the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) in 2021 and set ambitious emission reduction goals in line with the Paris Agreement.

Furthermore we disclose detailed climate-related data in the climate change questionnaire of the Carbon Disclosure Project.

 

Emission reduction projects planned for 2022

  • Considerations regarding extending biogas production at certain production sites

  • Installation of additional and optimisation of existing heat recovery systems in all production plants

  • Optimisation of hot water flows in production areas at our production sites

  • Installation of photovoltaic plants on the roofs of warehouses in Laden- burg, Germany (already started in 2021) and Pernhofen, Austria

  • New LED lighting projects implemented throughout various areas to pro- vide additional energy savings

  • Optimisation of the use of processing aids in Pernhofen, Austria

SBTi targets

  • Reduction of absolute scope 1 and scope 2 GHG emissions by 25% until 2030 (base year: 2020)

  • Reduction of absolute scope 3 GHG emissions from fuel- and energy- related activities and downstream transportation and distribution by 12.3% until 2030 (base year: 2020)

  • 70% of our suppliers, covering the most emissions of purchased goods and services, will have set science-based targets by 2026