AkzoNobel announced “another milestone on the company’s journey to becoming carbon-neutral by 2050,” noting that all of its paint and coatings production in the Netherlands now is powered by green energy.
The Amsterdam-based coatings manufacturer said it has signed an agreement with the Dutch energy supplier Eneco, which means the company’s facilities in Sassenheim, Wapenveld, Groot Ammers and Ammerzoden now get all of their electricity from wind power.
The contract, which runs until 2020 and includes providing power to all the company’s Sikkens stores, involves the supply of 66 gigawatt hours a year, equivalent to the energy consumed by a city of 33,000 people.
AkzoNobel also said it will reduce its annual CO2 emissions by 19 kilotons.
“This is an important agreement that secures the supply of sustainably generated electricity for some of our less energy-intensive locations,” said Marcel Galjee, director of energy at AkzoNobel. “It signals the next step in further reducing our CO2 emissions and demonstrates our commitment to resource efficiency, which was highlighted by the company’s recent No. 1 ranking on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.”
The Eneco contract comes on the heels of two agreements announced by AkzoNobel last year for purchasing wind energy directly from new wind farms currently under construction in the Netherlands – Krammer and Bouwdokken.
The company also said it uses sustainably generated steam at its sites in Hengelo and Delfzijl.
Currently, 40 percent of AkzoNobel’s worldwide energy consumption is renewable, according to the company, while 2016 saw nearly half of the company’s locations improve their energy use.
AkzoNobel’s goal for 2050 is to use 100-percent renewable energy.
