DSM has announced it aims to reduce 30% of its greenhouse gas emissions from direct production and purchased energy by 2030 compared to a 2016 baseline.
The Dutch ingredients producer’s goals have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative and aligned with the Paris climate agreement.
As a complementary target, the company will purchase 75% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030, with 41% already being renewable in 2018.
DSM said that as its operations represent a small proportion of the total emissions in the value chain of its products, it has set a new, more ambitious target to reduce indirect value chain emissions by 28% per tonne of product produced by 2030. Emissions reductions in the value chain will be driven through the company’s new CO2REDUCE programme, focusing on encouraging and challenging suppliers to reduce their climate impact.
DSM’s targets have been assessed by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to be in line with the level of decarbonisation required to keep global temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. The SBTi is a collaboration between the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute and the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Feike Sijbesma, DSM CEO, said: “Combating climate change is not just a responsibility but also a business opportunity for DSM. With validated science-based targets, we take a major step forward in delivering our contribution to the Paris Agreement, and invite peers and partners to follow suit.”
DSM vice president of sustainability Jeff Turner said: “Adopting science-based targets aligned with the Paris Agreement supports us driving climate action throughout the value chain. At DSM we also enable our customers to reduce their emissions with our Brighter Living Solutions. I am proud DSM is taking proactive steps to enable the transformational change the world needs.”
Alexander Farsan, global lead for science-based targets at WWF, added: “We congratulate Royal DSM on setting emissions reduction targets in line with climate science. By taking this ambitious step, they are real leaders in their sector and are doing their part to align with global efforts to prevent the most dangerous effects of global warming.”
In January, DSM tripled the solar output of its facility in Belvidere, New Jersey, moving one step closer to sourcing 100% renewable energy for its global operations. The solar panels at the site use DSM’s anti-reflective coating for the solar glass that is said to increase efficiency by up to 3%.
Last June, the company announced that from 2018 100% of its electricity used in the Netherlands would be from renewable sources.
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