Firmenich Advances Leadership in Renewable Energy

06 Jul 2017 --- Firmenich are continuing to make significant progress in leading the Fragrance and Flavor industry in renewable energy adoption, with more than 65 percent of its manufacturing electricity generated from renewable sources globally. With two new plants, Princeton and Port Newark, powered 100 percent by renewable electricity, Firmenich now operates a total of seven 100 percent clean energy manufacturing sites, including two in the UK, two in Switzerland and one in Belgium.

“We have set ourselves industry-leading environmental goals, in line with our vision to become a carbon neutral company,” says Gilbert Ghostine, CEO of Firmenich. “Today’s investments in clean energy are a key milestone in reaching our goal of 100 percent of our manufacturing sites powered from renewables by 2020.”
 
“As part of our global approach to combatting climate change, Purchasing worked with a major energy supplier in North America to meet the needs of our US plants today and in the future,” explains Bhavesh Shah, Chief Purchasing Officer. “This is just one of the ways we are accelerating Firmenich’s vision of a clean and sustainable manufacturing footprint.” 
 
“Our renewable energy achievements underscore our commitment to both mitigating our impact and bringing about positive change,” added Neil McFarlane, Senior VP Quality, Health, Safety, Security & Environment. “We are on the right path to transforming all our sites to clean energy by 2020.”

Neil McFarlane, Senior VP, GLOBAL QHSS&E, Firmenich spoke to FoodIngredientsFirst: “As part of our strategy to remain an industry leader in sustainability and climate change, we have made a commitment to setting science-based targets (SBTs) to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The consensus in the scientific community is that these ambitious reduction targets – to keep global warming well below 2°C compared to pre-industrial temperatures – are necessary to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change. Setting SBTs is a demanding process, and goals are ambitious, but this is the most solid way to set meaningful targets.” 
 
“In order to develop renewable energy in a sustainable way, we constantly need to assess the life cycle cost and impact of on-site renewable energy installations vs. purchased renewable energy,” he explains. “Finance, environmental and purchasing teams need to collaborate to create a sustainable strategy to increase renewable energy usage.” 

“Finally, any company aiming to reduce their environmental footprint should consider their Scope 3 CO2 emissions (i.e. indirect emissions from value chain). For many companies, these emissions are potentially larger than Scope 1 & Scope 2 emissions. And as such, companies need to not only better understand their Scope 3 emissions, but also collaborate with suppliers and customers, to reduce impact throughout the value chain,” notes McFarlane. 

by Elizabeth Green